“p up to 50 mph in the winds could gust up to 50 mph in exposure gci’oss the winds could gust up to 50 mph in exposure across the west. strong enough again potentially to cause damage and disruption. unseasonably windy. the headlines: pressure mounts on the government over england's exam results fiasco, an announcement is expected later, amid fears similar chaos could surround thursday's gcse results. here we are the monday after a—level results wadding there is not a proper appeals process in place and wadding there is now not enough confidence in the system for gcses, is frankly unacceptable. northern ireland scraps plans to take into account schools‘ past performances and instead will award gcse grades based solely on teacher estimates. anger on the streets of belarus, as pressure mounts on president lukashenko over his disputed re—election. millions of self—employed workers in the uk can apply for a second coronavirus support grant —

but for many it's too late. a break with convention for the democrats — no razamatazz asjoe biden and kamala harris launch their golden ticket in the midst of a pandemic. united in grief — the mothers who lost sons in two high—profile killings just days apart — now geting support — from one another. borisjohnson is under mounting pressure to intervene to end the a—level chaos, as anger grows among pupils and teachers over unfair results. as mps are expecting some kind of a change to come on exam results this afternoon — exam regulator quual is facing criticism over the statistical model it used to decide the grades. some senior education figures have suggested england should follow

scotland's example and base grades solely on teacher assessments. northern ireland has announced that there will be no use of algorithms to adjust grades — instead they will abide by the grades awarded by teachers. our political correspondent iain watson reports. protests at westminster this weekend highlighted the anger and disappointment of school students who didn't get the a—level grades they expected. legal challenges are also likely. using an algorithm, quual, the exams regulator in england, downgraded 280,000 a—level results from teachers' assessments — almost 40% of the total. i received b, c, d in my a levels, lower than my centre—assessed grade and mock results. this meant i didn't get my firm and insurance universities. the grades my teachers submitted this year for me were a—star, a, a, and had i got bs i would have met my offer and got into cambridge, however,

after standardisation i got a, a, b meant i was rejected. guidance on how to appeal against lower—than—expected grades was withdrawn at the weekend and revised advice is expected soon, but it's notjust the students growing restless. so too are a growing number of conservative mps. people knew this day of a level results and they knew the day of gcse results months ago, and to find ourselves now where here we are on the monday after a—level results worrying that there isn't a proper appeals process in place and now worrying that there is not enough confidence in the system about gcses, frankly, is simply unacceptable. in a tweet, government minister penny mordaunt made it clear she wanted more to be done for bright, capable students to go to university or further education this year. and head teachers at english grammar schools have joined the chorus of criticism. in a statement, they say a great injustice has been done and the way results were assessed has led to utterly baffling

outcomes for many students. this week, gcse results are due to be published in england, wales and northern ireland. this morning education ministers in northern ireland said these results would be based on teachers' assessments alone, putting more pressure on the government to follow suit in england. under pressure, the scottish government has already announced that exam results there will be based on the grades predicted by teachers, and labour say a—level results in england should now be decided in a similar way. the government should use teacher—assessed grades in respect of a—level students, underpin that with an appeals system in case a student feels their teacher—assessed grade isn't correct. but now, of course, we don't know what sort of appeal system students are going to be relying on. the department for education says hundreds of thousands of school students in england already have the grades they need to continue with their education or seek employment. but some mps are privately confident that the government will make more

substantial changes, and that's because the perception that bright kids from poorer backgrounds could be losing out is politically toxic. but some believe confidence in the system has already been badly dented. the public is losing confidence in the system, and it is up to 0fqual, which i know is working very hard, it is up to 0fqual, and especially the government to try to put in place something that will claw back some of that public confidence. i'm afraid it will not be able to claw back all of it. in order to learn we need a u—turn! these students believe the government so far has failed the fairness test. and pressure for a revision of the system is increasing. with me now is our political correspondent helen catt. gavin williamson has something of a cover now because he could argue if he wants to do a u—turn because he

could argue it is unfair or english stu d e nts could argue it is unfair or english students because those in northern ireland and scotland will have better results. he could argue that just a few days ago after what happened in scotland he said there would be no u—turn on english results and they were standing by the system. the prime minister on thursday describing the system of standardisation as being robust. i think things have been said since that situation happened in scotland. we don't yet know if this will be a u—turn although conservative mps expect some kind of change today and judging by what they are now starting to say publicly, we saw some this morning expressing dissatisfaction with the system, in the past hour an increasing number of conservative backbenchers coming out publicly saying it needs to go back to the grades of the teachers awarded. we have to see what happens but that does feel like where it is going. there is of anger out there and a lot of young lives are being

really badly affected by this. they may be asking where does the buck stops here? 0fqual, education secretary or the prime minister? that's a question that will be asked a lot of young lives are being really badly affected by this. they may be asking where does the buck stops here? 0fqual, education secretary or the prime minister? that's a question that will be asked a lot and we understand nick gibb, there has been an effort to question how 0fqual have behaved but certainly conservative mps are likely to be asking lots of questions of the minister about how it got to this point. having seen what happened in scotland and what planned out there, how did it get to a point where we are seeing very similar things a point where we are seeing very similarthings in a point where we are seeing very similar things in england? and in particular in light of the government's commitment to levelling

up, increasing life chances for eve ryo ne up, increasing life chances for everyone in the country, how did they not see the algorithm being used and outcomes, how did they not spot the problems it would cause politically? helen, thank you very much indeed. we can speak now tojo—anne baird who is a professor of educational assessment at oxford university, she is also an adviser to 0fqual and its scottish equivalent, the scottish qualifications authority. good afternoon. i don't want to second—guess what the government may do, i suspect they can't even at this stage can probably cop if there isa this stage can probably cop if there is a change, as we've seen in scotla nd is a change, as we've seen in scotland and northern ireland, this will cause a huge headache for universities, isn't it? yeah, i think this would be very difficult for universities to manage. some systemic thinking is needed here to bring the universities in and consult them about how long they are going to need to address this. let's not forget this year there are major health and safety considerations to having large groups of students coming into universities and into

towns. so i think the government needs to be consulting with universities on this. here we are in august, you are an adviser to 0fqual, they have had in months to think about this, why are we where we are now? i think you have to remember normally in a —— a new exam system would take years to develop, consult on, evaluate and some countries take over a decade to change exam systems. 0fqual have been charged with constructing something that they managed to roll out ina something that they managed to roll out in a number of months. that is really quite an achievement. well, and yet we are in this attic chaos. the chaos is about the reaction to the results —— we are in this utter chaos. the results which have not carried public confidence. it was known in advance some of the reserve at —— some of these results would be unfairso it at —— some of these results would be unfair so it must be accompanied by

an appeals process so individuals can challenge with evidence the results they've been given on the basis of a statistical model. one gets the impression behind the scenes somewhere there's been an almighty row, 0fqual putting out a press release that they then withdraw, we've not heard from anybody in government about this at this morning, what is your assessment as to what's going on behind the scenes? policy is all is murky, i don't have any behind—the—scenes insights to give you on this. i suspect there will be robust exchanges between 0fqual and the government as they try to come toa the government as they try to come to a solution in the interests of all of the candidates who took their exams this year. these results will stick with these young people throughout their lives. it is incredibly important to get this right. isn't it too late for many already? many have gone through clearing and been told they can't get the places they wanted, their lives have already been permanently affected. that is the question, do

we stick with where we are in terms of university entrance or is this a radical year in which many things have to shift? because of the virus and its effect. it might be the government have to remove the cap on student entry to university, which they place this year, and look again at when the universities can take decisions, could the decisions come later and so on? there are a number of ways out of this that would actually help this year's students. that is great to hear but the question really is how on earth did we get into this? so, the secretary of state decided he wanted a system that did not allow increases in results or such a large increase in results, compared with previous yea rs. results, compared with previous years. that is a decision about grade inflation. what he was trying to do, i suspect, is carried public confidence in the grades from this year. we do know if we have teacher

assessment we will have got we know this empirically, from previous yea rs this empirically, from previous years and other countries, we would have an increase in the results and thatis have an increase in the results and that is what we've seen with centre assessed grades. the results at grade ae got from 25% last year to around 38% this year —— the results from a grade. the question for the government is whether they can stomach some grade inflation for one year against injustices that stu d e nts year against injustices that students feel have resulted from the statistical model that has been used. you are professional education assessment at oxford, how would you create the government on their performance so far? unfortunately i am nota performance so far? unfortunately i am not a professor at —— fortunately iam nota am not a professor at —— fortunately i am not a professional of politics so i'm not dishing out rays! but it was always going to be difficult —— dishing out grades. it needs political leadership to lead the path forward so we get an open

appeal system for students so they can challenge not only the grades they've been given now, but the teacher assessment they have been given because there will be injustices there. some which may be simply administrative errors, but it is important pupils as well as schools can appeal the results. ok, it's a very good to speak to you. thank you very much for your time this afternoon. the foreign secretary dominic raab says the british government does not accept the result of what he described as a fraudulent presidential election in belarus. it comes as more protests have been taking place demanding that president alexander lukashenko — who has been in powerfor a quarter of a century — steps down. sarah rainsford reports. chanting alexander lukashenko is used to being greeted by crowds, but never one like this. they are factory workers, once loyal, now demanding he should go.

so, mr lukashenko flew in today, not to face them, only inside the factory was no better. booing. as he tried to speak, the workers shouted "leave". not just the tribune, but the presidency. their ruler of 26 years publicly humiliated. "now i've finished, you can shout", he eventually tells them. pressure has been building fast. sunday saw the biggest political rally ever in belarus. central minsk turned red and white as a crowd poured out to demand fresh elections. and today the woman many voted for sent a new message of support from lithuania, where she fled to safety last week. svetlana tikhanovskaya said she's ready to act as a transitional leader, to release

all of the political prisoners and to hold a fair vote that can be recognised by all the world. that statement will not be shown by state media, where these people work. so, they are now on strike, demanding an end to censorship. their action took one morning show off air. but there was no sign of trouble on the news channel, just the latest on the harvest. this is one of several presenters who has resigned. she told me she had to leave for ukraine because she was threatened for speaking out. her show wasn't even political. she cooked, helped by her children, but she said she could not smile for the screen any more after seeing the police brutally beating protesters. translation: they tried to frighten people, but people got angry instead and now it is impossible to stop things. no one will ever forget what they did.

it is a point of no return. they will never forgive this. there has been the odd scene like this, but it is the exception. the security forces mr lukashenko relies on are still loyal, and he is adamant he is in charge, but the protest wave against him is growing now, every day. sarah raynsford, bbc news, moscow. the headlines on bbc news: as pressure mounts on the government over england's exam results fiasco, calls on borisjohnson to take control, amid fears similar chaos could surround thursday's gcse results. northern ireland scraps plans to take into account schools' past performances and instead will award gcse grades based solely on teacher estimates. anger on the streets of belarus, as pressure mounts on president lukashenko over his disputed re—election. self—employed workers who are eligible for government

support during the covid crisis can apply for a second, final, round of grants from today. more than three million people are eligible, but many self—employed people are concerned that they will be left out again. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. meet amy storey, a self—employed actor and entertainer, who has fallen between the gaps of the government's support schemes. i qualify for absolutely no financial help. this is because my normaljob is as a self—employed person, working for the nhs, but, to make ends meet, i took on a paye part—timejob, singing in a department store to children. that took me slightly above my self—employed income. so the percentages they employed, don't add up, for me, to get help. like a lot of people, i've used up any scrap of savings that i have. that's nearly all gone now. there are nearly 3 million self—employed workers, like amy, still hoping for government help.

the chancellor has already acknowledged that these schemes will not be able to help everybody, but that can be easy to say, but very hard for those individuals concerned. there is a broad package of support available, looking at things like mortgage holidays, looking at loans. from today, self—employed workers, if they are eligible, can claim for more support. 2.7 million people applied for the first grant. the claims came to £7.8 billion. it gave workers 87% of their average monthly profits. capped at £7,500. this second and final grant is worth 70% of average monthly profits. this time, the payment is capped at £6,500. but some think all this support from the treasury may still not be enough. this second tranche of support only goes to october. it is grim times. even those who have been eligible for the support, and that's

only two thirds of the self—employed, will potentially see a devastating run—up to christmas and into the new year. but this grant will make a difference to millions of self—employed workers, and the funds should come through quick. emma simpson, bbc news. tonight the democratic national convention gets under way in the us — four days of events leading up to the main moment — crowning the presidential nomineejoe biden and his vice—presidential pick kamala harris. traditionally the event is loud and brash — but this year it will be a very different event. covid—i9 fears mean that the only people attending in—person at the convention centre in milwaukee will be those running the event. mr biden will be dialling in to deliver his speech from delaware on thursday. neda tawfik has more. tens of thousands of people should have been descending on milwaukee to mark the start of the democrats' general election campaign. instead the party will be holding an unconventional convention because of health concerns

surrounding the pandemic. this is what it should look like, but the normallyjam packed arenas will be replaced by two hours of virtual programming each night. over the four days speakers will include party heavyweights such as the 0bamas and clintons and a mix of moderates to progressive stars such as bernie sanders and alexandria 0casio—cortez. heading into the convention, this pollster says the biden—harris ticket is in a good position, leading by a comfortable margin. conventions really don't play a large role in the election anyway so it's not going to really matter. in fact, it could just help him further. and what we have seen is him staying in place, staying in the shadows, letting president trump fall over his own rhetoric and his own handling of the pandemic and the protests and the economy, that has worked for biden really well in the last couple of months and we see that in the polls. his low—profile campaign, dubbed invisible by republicans, has certainly helped him control his image, avoiding the rigours of the campaign trail and grabbing attention at key moments. there's nothing ordinary

about this election season. the typical issues that preoccupy campaigns have been overshadowed by the unprecedented challenges facing the economic and social well—being of americans. and that means, inevitably, the incumbent, president trump, will ultimately face more scrutiny than his challengerjoe biden. what do we want? justice! democrats are hoping to attract a broad coalition that will turn out on election day. you know, just give the youth more of an opportunity. whilejoe biden doesn't excite the progressive left wing voters who preferred his primary challenger bernie sanders, he hasn't alienated all of them either. i will vote forjoe biden because, again, as bernie sanders stated, our end goal is to defeat donald trump and to not, you know, give him more ammo to split any votes, or to even have a low voter turnout. we cannot afford to let that happen because i do not know where we will be in the next four years from now but i pray that it is not with the occupant in the office that we currently have. we have to remember who we are. joe biden will officially accept

the party's presidential nomination without the usual fanfare and balloon drop. no doubt the democratic national convention will look and feel very different. like everything else this year. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. and this evening on bbc news we'll bring you the latest from the first day of the democrat convention in delaware — that's from nine o'clock on the bbc news channel with christian fraser and katty kay. lets get more on the crisis around a—level grades. we can speak to dave maccormick is the head teacher at holyrood academy in chard. i know you have a sixth form can you give me your assessment on where we are with a—levels at the moment? give me your assessment on where we are with a-levels at the moment? my opinion is we are an absolute crisis mode. we have got, in my context,

100 students waiting to know what their next steps are in terms of whether they will be allowed to go on to university, whether those grades will stand or not, whether they will be rejected by universities, accepted, it isjust that great deal of confusion at the moment, which has followed... a real outpouring of emotion. forgive me, i wa nt to outpouring of emotion. forgive me, i want to break this news because we are hearing the welsh government has announced a—level and gcse students will be awarded grades predicted by their teachers. 42% of students at a level head there are great downgraded last week. huge pressure drawing, —— had their grades are downgraded last week. this is a mess, isn't it? we are seeing every pa rt mess, isn't it? we are seeing every part of the uk apart from england doing the morally right thing. we need to see leadership from central government got borisjohnson, gavin

williamson standing up and admitting a mistake has been made and let's all move on. they have the cover now gavin williamson does, to say i don't want english students to be suffering because they will have lower results from other parts of the uk. it is a u—turn inevitable, do you think? i believe so. i don't think there is any other direction and since we received our a—level results on wednesday, that is exactly what i and many other head teachers and school leaders and union leaders have been calling for. it is the right outcome in this very special and strange set of circumstances. circumstances that have been around awhile, why are we still in this state when we've had months to for this? i don't want to be unnecessarily harsh in terms of criticism of what's happened at 0fqual, and department for education, this is a very complex

problem and one that's taken a great deal of consideration and i don't think there is a perfect answer, let's be honest, the awarding of centre assessment grades is not a perfect outcome. however it is the least a bad outcome and the right outcome for young people. this is going to cause chaos at universities, particularly at this stage, when many students have gone through clearing already? the bottom line is that this decision should have been taken a long time before results were released to schools and, actually, the result should have been released to schools earlier, to allow us to have this conversation with 0fqual and with the department for education before results were given to students, that way the human cost, the emotional cost of this results could have been avoided. those are the ones on the front line, the students and their pa rents. front line, the students and their parents. you must be getting some very difficult phone calls. absolutely. but we've got a

fantastic community around us at our school and they know the leadership of the school have been doing everything we can in order to raise this case, both locally and nationally. as an issue to be rectified. we've had nothing but support to from our parents because we are trying to do the right thing. you have a six form, will you have to adjust how you assess those gcse results, bringing pupils into that sixth form? we won't because we issued a statement in april when it was announced gcse would not be happening, to reassure our students we would have individual conversations with them based upon what we thought their teachers had assessed them to be capable of and we would not stick to our usual entry requirements, we would deal with them as individuals. the fear must be any students taking exams in 2020, those qualifications are totally devalued. i mean, i don't

think that's the case. i don't think the cohort of 2020 are compatible with 230 and 19 and 2021. these young people have not had the chance to prove themselves and dictate and determine their own futures and the cohort of 2019 had that chance, the cohort of 2019 had that chance, the cohort of 2019 had that chance, the cohort of 2021 we hope will have that chance. it is about making sure the students are not completely disempowered in terms of control over their own future. i'm just wondering where you think, as someone on the front line, where does the buck stop?|j someone on the front line, where does the buck stop? i mean, i would not like to sort of blame anybody for this. i do feel, as a leader myself, that you've got to step up and you have to be visible and public about your opinions on these things and i do feel the prime minister and the secretary of state for education have gone missing and

i think that is unforgivable. you cannot just evolve your responsibilities in a crisis you have to stand there, take the public criticism and find a positive way forward. unforgivable, strong word. well, it is. these are the futures of young people. very good of you to join us. thank you for your time. you are very welcome. asi you are very welcome. as i was breaking the news during that interview, this is from the welsh education minister kirsty williams confirming that a—level, gcse grades will be awarded on centre assessment grades. the minister has been saying given decisions elsewhere the balance of fairness lies with awarding centre assessment for students despite the strength of the system in wales. she says she is taking the decision ahead of results being released so there is time for the work to take place. for a great issued last week

i have decided all awards will be made on teacher assessment. —— four grades awarded last week. maintaining standards is a feature of awarding qualifications every year. however it is clear maintaining confidence in our qualifications whilst being fair to stu d e nts qualifications whilst being fair to students requires this difficult decision and it goes on to describe exceptional circumstances. that is a situation in wales, we are awaiting some sort of change of mind in england, we are hearing mps have been told something to be expected as soon as today. we will keep an eye on that decision. let's look at the weather with susan. hello. we continue with the threat of intense thunderstorms for england and wales into the next 2a hours. met office warning for quite a lot of rain in a short space of time.

showers will migrate northwards late into the afternoon and into the evening, more persistent rain pulling away from northern ireland into small hours of tuesday pushing towards wales. by then the thunderstorms will have cleared. quite a muggy night. on into tuesday more organised area of cloud and rain drifting further northwards are bringing wet weather for northern england and thickening of the cloud for southern scotland and rain for the afternoon. generally cloudier on tuesday. 0n. northern ireland will see a solicitor showers. england and wales, intense little spots are at their behind me and there will be their behind me and there will be the risk of some intense thunderstorms. hello this is bbc news.

the headlines: pressure mounts over england's exam results fiasco, as the welsh government announces that a level and gcse students will now be awarded the grades predicted by their teachers. here we are the monday after a level results worrying there isn't a proper appeals process in place and that there is an confidence in the system frankly is not acceptable. northern ireland has also scrapped plans to take into account schools' past performances and instead will award gcse grades based solely on teacher estimates. and instead will award gcse grades anger on the streets of belarus — and instead will award gcse grades with a new wave of strikes to try to force president alexander lukashenko to step down. millions of self—employed workers in the uk can apply for a second coronavirus support grant, but for many it's too late. a break with convention for the democrats — no razzmatazz asjoe biden and kamala harris launch

their golden ticket in the midst of a pandemic. sport now...and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. good afternoon. not looking good for any hopes of action in the cricket at the moment, in southampton. it's been a frustrating weekend which has continued into the final day of the second test between england and pakistan. bad weather led to just an hour's play across the weekend. today they're yet to get under way, after a fifth pitch inspection not too long ago. henry moeran's at the ageas bowl for us, and has been explaining why there has been some criticism for the umpires and ground staff. certainly for the umpires and ground staff. the umpires havt they've certainly the umpires have come out, they've got the light metres and made thejudgment they've got the light metres and made the judgment call it isn't safe to play. there is only so much the ground staff can do when they have the sort of rain we have had. visually yesterday, that is when there was the real frustration because you had a situation where play was called off at ten to four, then by a:30pm it was glorious sunshine. the great and the good working on the match on commentary duties said there didn't seem to be

any urgency. why weren't they out there when the rain started to clear there when the rain started to clear the pitch up and get the game on? there is certainly frustrating in flexibility within test cricket particularly in getting games started. you can extend into the evening session if you have lost time but you can't start early for example, so those sorts of things have really frustrated people and fa ns have really frustrated people and fans watching around the world. play is due to start at 3:20pm as we learn now from the pitch inspection, but let's take a look at how things stand. england, who lead the series 1—0, are 7—1 in reply to pakistan's 236. were there to be no further play, it would be the fewest overs bowled in a test in england since 1931. simona halep has become the latest big name to pull out of this month's us open because of the coronavirus pandemic. halep is the current world number

two, and says she's decided not to play in new york because of what she calls the exceptional circumstances we're living in at the moment, adding that her health is at the heart of the decision. the current wimbledon champion is the sixth top ten player to opt out of the grand slam, which is being played behind closed doors from 31st august. let's bring you some football lines now. joe hart is expected to join tottenham on a two—year deal. he's a free agent after leaving burnley at the end ofjune, and will compete with paulo gazzaniga to be hugo lloris' deputy at spurs. and hart's former manchester city team mate vincent kompany has retired from playing. he's 3a and spent last season as player—coach of the belgian side anderlecht. he'll now focus full time on management. ronnie 0'sullivan says a seventh world snooker title would be fantastic after his latest triumph at the crucible. he dominated kyren wilson to win his sixth world championship title. 0'sullivan is nowjust one world

title away from matching stephen hendry‘s record. whilst he's still firmly focussed on his own career, 0'sullivan hasn't ruled out helping other players to develop in the future and that could include yesterday's beaten finalist. kyren doesn't need any help but i'm sure he would be someone than if i stopped playing i would love to maybe try and help him in some sort of way. i know he is up for learning stuff and maybe i could be a coach for kyren one day. he has tremendous ability and it would be great at some point to do that. but i have got to be a little bit selfish first and put myself first. there's only so many hours and time in the day so i'm focused on what i can do rather than what i can do for others at the moment in that respect. ronnie 0'sullivan and there. you can keep

up—to—date if the cricket starts in an houron the up—to—date if the cricket starts in an hour on the bbc sport website. that's all the sport for now. thank you. let's get more now on that announcement that gcse results in northern ireland on thursday will be based solely on grades predicted by teachers. i'm joined now by geri cameron, president of the national association of headteachers in northern ireland. your reaction to that first of all. we are hugely relieved. it's the only sensible move the minister could have made to avoid even worse scenes than we saw last week with the a—level and as—level result so we are relieved and we think it's the only sensible move forward. you mentioned a levels, that's not settled yet, is it? far from it. there is huge anxiety in the system in northern ireland, we are watching with interest what's happening across the otherjurisdictions. it would be nice to think there could be an even level playing field going forward but in northern ireland we are focused on the injustice of at

least 40% of our a—level candidates and there is huge anxiety in their homes as we speak. what about other head teachers, your members? our head teachers, your members? our head teachers, your members? our head teachers are very stressed. you have got to bear in mind we are organising a return to school. many of our schools are open from today with year seven children in school, many more will be open next monday and then the full return at the end of the month. there's an awful lot going on and this was the last straw for many schools in the midst of trying to process huge numbers of appeals which are going to run into the thousands if there isn't a u—turn on the decision some time today, which we are really hoping for. many people saw this coming. yes, there were lots of professionals who input into this system preparation in april, may and june, and we did warn that any trust

that was put into an algorithm that we couldn't see, that was ever going to accommodate the breadth of variation there is in examinations at a—level was very risky and we have been proved correct. u nfortu nately have been proved correct. unfortunately in northern ireland we still haven't seen the detail of the algorithm that was used so we can only assume that the reluctance to publish it means there are definitely issues with it. we have now got wales making similar decisions, the only ones at the moment who aren't are the authorities in england. does this whole process, i mean, how damaging is this to confidence in the entire system ? is this to confidence in the entire system? i don't think it is too dramatic to say this is a moment in time when we need to look at how we examine or how we assess progress with our young people. i think lord patten yesterday said this is the only positive to come out of this is

that we will stop doing things out of tradition and be more creative in how we assess levels of attainment. the system across the uk was designed 50 or 60 years ago with very few tweaks in between four different world. this is a moment in time when we can reflect and think about doing it in a better way. we have had since march a pandemic which has meant many people have had perhaps the time to do that, and yet we are in this position. the only thing i would say is that there was never going to be a perfect outcome whenever young people are not able to sit exams and do their best and demonstrate the hard work they have put in. it was always going to be a compromise position. i have heard the term least worst used. this is not the least worst. the outcomes are worse than anybody would have

anticipated and i think that we do need to... there is a duty on us to reflect a nd need to... there is a duty on us to reflect and look at how it was done to ta ke reflect and look at how it was done to take that on the chin, and say we need a technical review of how we arrived at these grades. there's too many... we cannot call them anomalies any more. anomalies are outliers, they are rare, and u nfortu nately we have outliers, they are rare, and unfortunately we have many thousands of outliers this year so there is something wrong. would you be surprised if england didn't follow suit later today? it is hard to know. certainly the move from our minister this morning was very welcome. we now need to see that transferring into the a—level system andi transferring into the a—level system and i certainly hope the same thing happens in england. thank you so much. let's get more from our wales correspondent tomos morgan who's in cardiff. just bring us up to speed. we have

just bring us up to speed. we have just had the statement from the welsh education minister, u—turn on the decision that was taken last week. last week she made the decision late in the day on wednesday evening that all pupils in wales would get results for all their a—levels that would be no less then what they received in the same subject in their as—level the year before. however today we have the decision that everyone in wales will now have the decision on whatever they the teachers had said they would get. anyone who got the higher grade last week they will maintain and keep that higher grade. this decision comes kirsty williams said and will also impact on those expecting their result this week in gcses, so a huge u—turn from the welsh government coming under huge pressure over the weekend with protests from students and teachers, and a petition online that had tens of thousands of people signing it,

asking and calling on the welsh government to back the teachers and ask why they didn't back teachers when it came to these grades changes, following the decision last week from the qualifications watchdog when they downgraded 42% of pupils' grades. a huge outcry saying there wasn't parity across the country, across the uk now, and now we get the decision from the education minister saying everybody now in wales will be getting a mark that was based on the teachers assessed grade. it will make life rather difficult for welsh universities because a—level stu d e nts universities because a—level students have already been told what their options are. things will have to change. yes, we have heard from several pupils across the country, across wales, who have had different grades from what their teachers predicted and some of those pupils have now obviously been told they won't get their place in university,

so what will happen to them now they have found out they will be getting the grades they were originally predicted by their teachers? 42% of pupils in wales had their grades downgraded by qualifications wales early last week, so it has affected a huge amount of pupils in wales. however when kirsty williams made that announcement late in the day last week that pupils would get grades no less than their a.s. grades i think everybody thought that would come to some sort of parity. with the different devolved nations making different decisions when it came to this, i think it was inevitable the governments will have to fall in line, and as you mentioned earlier and as you heard from your earlier guest, it will be interesting and difficult for the uk government not to follow suit now that everywhere else is making the same decision. thank you, tomos.

you are watching bbc news. for people living in abusive relationships, lockdown made it notjust harder for them to leave but also, for many, it meant the violence got worse. that s according to the first in—depth research about the impact of lockdown on the scale and nature of domestic abuse, carried out by the charity women s aid exclusively for the bbc s panorama programme. in the first weeks of lockdown, someone called the police about domestic abuse every 30 seconds. victoria derbyshire reports. this isjess. for years, her husband had been abusive to her. but when lockdown was announced, things got worse. that stay—at—home message, what did that mean to you? seriously? yeah.

the charity women's aid have been working on the first in—depth research about the impact of lockdown on domestic abuse, for panorama. of the people they spoke to, almost two—thirds of those living with an abuser said the violence had got worse. more than three—quarters of women said lockdown had made it harder for them to escape. jess got out and to a place of safety. but finding a room in a refuge was harder than ever during lockdown. there were 1,100 fewer available beds. that's a drop of 42% compared to the same time last year. is it likely she is going to be accepted? marie williamson manages this refuge in london. marie's desperately trying to find a woman and her children a bed in an alternative refuge, after their whereabouts were mistakenly revealed by a third party. i've had five refuges of the seven

refuges that were available and they've all declined. i'm going to ring up one other and then after that i've got no other options. 19 days after lockdown began, the government announced it would give an additional £2 million to domestic abuse helplines. the timing was dreadful. it should not have taken 19 days to mobilise any sort of action, and what it highlights is that it wasn't a priority for the government. it is a poor effort. were you too slow to act? i don't think we were because when we were talking to charities in the very, very earliest days we were very much responding — we said to them, what you need for us to help? can i tell you how many people were killed in alleged domestic abuse cases in the three weeks between lockdown and when that announcement was made for the 2 million for the helplines? it was 11 women and two children, and one man in those three weeks.

charities, the police, we all work incredibly hard to keep victims and survivors. we must never take attention away from the fact that it is abusive people who committed those murders. victoria derbyshire, bbc news. sarah davidge is from women's aid and joins me now. this the first evidence if you like to confirm the fears many people had as we went into lockdown. absolutely. we started looking at the impact of the pandemic on survivors and domestic abuse support services since lockdown started, listening to our own interactions with survivors, with providers, looking at our data sources, and we carried out some surveys. 0ne looking at our data sources, and we carried out some surveys. one in the beginning of april at the height of lockdown and again at the end of june to see what had changed. we are publishing our new report tomorrow,

which shows obviously whilst covid—19 hasn't caused domestic abuse it is escalating existing abuse. 91% of survivors responding to ourjune survey said the pandemic had impacted their experiences of domestic abuse in more ways. we have also seen abusers' behaviour have meant those experiencing domestic abuse have less freedom to leave or seek help and access support networks. 0ver seek help and access support networks. over three quarters of survivors in april said it was harder to leave as a result of the pandemic and it is still a significant issue at the end ofjune in spite of using lockdown measures. alongside of all this support services are experiencing a range of pressures and diverse impacts, and predicting a spike in demand over the coming year as a result of the pandemic. why? what do you think is

behind this? coercive controlling behaviour, which is at the heart of domestic abuse, it describes the way abusers use multiple means to control, manipulate and instill fear. from the start of this pandemic we have seen abusers start using the virus and lockdown restriction to do just this. over two thirds of survivors said their abuser had used the pandemic is part of their abuse in one or more ways. that might be refusing to take precautions to stop the spread of the virus, allowing people into the home with no social distancing, forcing household to have unnecessarily strict measures in place, using the virus itself and coughing, spitting, or blaming survivors for their economic impact on the household. then at the same time we have seen the support networks and means of escape reduced so that might be because the perpetrator has used the restrictions to actively stop

somebody leaving. it might be abusers themselves not being able to leave the house because of lockdown or using it as an excuse to stay in the survivor's house. it might be survivors not wanting to go to friends and family for fear of spreading infection, orfriends and family not being able to come to them for the same reason. we are seeing people trapped at home, and many have knows of a sort time to leave, to leave safely and access support. the government announced it was £22 million back injune. did that help in any way? in our initial survey of providers back in april, local services said they were worried about future funding, worried about future funding, worried about future funding, worried about the impact of staff shortages and the need to pay to backfill those. additional costs incurred from remote working, needing extra space to allow refugees to comply with guidance.

the crisis funding has helped with those costs. in spite of that, in june most services are still worried about funding and meeting future demand. the crisis funding has to be spent by october and most services are expecting to see a spike in demand at or after that time so we still need to see a long—term sustainable funding solution for the sector, which was already in a funding crisis before the pandemic began. women's aid have put the figure at 393 million for services across england. thank you for your time. and you can see more on that story tonight at 7.30 on bbc one in panorama: escaping my abuser. ronnie 0'sullivan has won the world snooker championship again.

but despite his charisma and superstar status, few younger players seem to picking up on his cue... with fears enthusiasm for the game is being — well — snookered. nesta mcgregor reports. the 2020 betfred world snooker champion! snooker is a game of numbers for ronnie 0'sullivan. these are the significant ones. a cheque for £500,000. the sport's biggest pay day. 28 years as one of the game's elite, and world title number six. to be here and have had all them victories, it's a dream but it's kind of becoming a bit of a reality as well so it's nice to be living a dream. like most sports, snooker has had to adapt to life during the covid outbreak. but last week it was its long—term future 0'sullivan was worried about. if you look at the younger players coming through, they're not that good, really. they're so bad that a lot of them that you see now, you think, i've probably got to lose an arm

and a leg to fall outside the top 50, do you know what i mean? those words probably provided no comfort to a sport keen to boost participation numbers. if we go back ten years, and junior events, junior events around the world were at an all—time low. what we have seen is a steady increase and actually in the last two years we have seen a huge increase. 0'sullivan won his first major title in 1993, aged just 17, and while he doesn't know how many frames he has got left, he has been inspiring players for generations. ronnie is a different level, he is just so good at the game, and i aspire to be like him. 16—year—old jamie wilson from hampshire will play his first match as a professional in september. not bad, considering he only entered the cue school qualifying tournament to assess the strength of his game. in the first year i am just going to see how it is and take the experience from it. maybe in the second year hopefully do well in some tournaments but i'm just going to go and have the experience sort of thing, see how it is.

for most young players, the dream is to make it to the professional tour. but first it's a venue like this and plenty of practice hours. ronnie 0'sullivan's comments could provide extra motivation for snooker‘s next generation, and who knows? one day they might be across the table from him and able to let to their cues do the talking. a woman has been charged with the murder of a ten—year—old boy in acton in west london. let's go tojohn mcmanus outside the court now. simon, ao—year—old 0lga freeman has been charged with the murder of her

son, dylan, whose body was found over the weekend. she appeared in the court flanked by three dock officers and spoke only to confirm her name, age and address. the legal representative read out the charge of murder concerning dylan freeman, then she was told she would be remanded in custody and the case be sent to the old bailey. 0lga freeman is expected to answer the charge of murder sometime wednesday morning. thank you very much. we are keeping an eye on the situation with the a—levels in england, which is the only nation not to have announced a change. mps expecting some sort of change. mps expecting some sort of change to be announced perhaps as early as today. we will keep in touch with that.

now it's time for a look at the weather with susan. we continue with the threat of intense but localised thunderstorms over the next 2a hours, producing scenes like these with clouds on the horizon and this beautiful rainbow. the thundery showers will migrate northward late afternoon into the evening before petering out, then we will see this area of more persistent rain pulling away from northern ireland swirling in the irish sea to end the night. pretty muqqy irish sea to end the night. pretty muggy once again, lows of 1a degrees. into tuesday, this swirl of rain will pull across northern wales into england through the morning before pushing northwards into scotla nd before pushing northwards into scotland during the course of the day. looking at the map, it looks like it is petering out but we can still see intense rainfall working northwards across scotland. for england and wales some decent sunshine but still locally the risk of some intense thunderstorms. for the remainder of the week we turn to

the remainder of the week we turn to the atlantic and areas of low pressure, two centres in fact in this circulation here, which will bring strong winds to all parts of the uk throughout the remainder of the uk throughout the remainder of the week. wednesday particularly i think for western areas as we see this band of rain coming in, and this band of rain coming in, and this could be heavy enough again to cause localised flooding. with pretty soggy ground we could see winds reaching a0 mph bringing down the odd tree. scotland looking driest and brightest through the middle of the week. thursday, if we look closely at the weather chart, we will see a gap between the bands of rain, the isobars opening up a touch. thursday not looking too bad for the uk but we have showery rain approaching from the west, and the winds will pick up through the course of the day again, particularly gusty towards the west with showers crowding in. in the east with some sunshine, a little warmer once again, up to 25 degrees. perhaps it's friday that is our

greatest cause for concern, that looks like the day that will bring the peak winds. more rain pushing across the uk but the winds could reach 50 mph in exposure towards the west, strong enough potentially to cause damage and disruption. unseasonably windy and in—store to the we cared. —— an unseasonably windy end in—store to the week ahead.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a u—turn from the welsh government, as it announces that a level and gcse students will now be awarded the grades predicted by their teachers. pressure mounts on the government over england's a level results — an announcement is expected this afternoon, amid fears similar chaos could surround thursday's gcses. here we are the monday after a—level results, worrying there isn't a proper appeals process in place. and now worrying there is not enough confidence in the system about gcses, frankly, is simply unacceptable. anger on the streets of belarus — with a new wave of strikes to try to force president alexander lukashenko to step down. millions of self—employed workers in the uk can apply for a second coronavirus support grant —

but for many it's too late. when i found out i wasn't entitled i felt shocked and very anxious and worried, heartbroken, really. a break with convention for the democrats — no razamatazz asjoe biden and karmala harris launch their golden ticket in the midst of a pandemic. coming up, united in grief — the mothers who lost sons in two high—profile killings just days apart — now supporting one another. borisjohnson is under mounting pressure to intervene to end the a—level chaos in england — as anger grows among pupils and teachers over unfair results. as mps are expecting some kind of a change to come on exam results this afternoon —

exam regulator 0fqual is facing criticism over the statistical model it used to decide the grades. the algorithm used by the regulator meant that a0% of marks were downgraded. this afternoon the welsh government said it would now use teacher assessed grades in awarding a—level and gcse results, after a2% of results were downgraded there. it comes after northern ireland said it would use teachers' grades for gcses. the government is expected to make an announcement on the gcse‘s and a—levels this afternoon. with the latest, here's our political correspondent iain watson. protests at westminster this weekend highlighted the anger and disappointment of school students who didn't get the a—level grades they expected. legal challenges are also likely. using an algorithm, 0fqual, the exams regulator in england, downgraded 280,000 a—level results from teachers' assessments — almost a0% of the total. i received b, c, d in my a levels, lower than my centre—assessed

grade and mock results. this meant i didn't get my firm and insurance universities. the grades my teachers submitted this year for me were a—star, a, a, and had i got bs i would have met my offer and got into cambridge, however, after standardisation i got a, a, b meant i was rejected. guidance on how to appeal against lower—than—expected grades was withdrawn at the weekend and revised advice is expected soon, but it's notjust the students growing restless. so too are a growing number of conservative mps. people knew this day of a level results and they knew the day of gcse results months ago, and to find ourselves now where here we are on the monday after a—level results worrying that there isn't a proper appeals process in place and now worrying that there is not enough confidence in the system about gcses, frankly, is simply unacceptable. in a tweet, government minister

penny mordaunt made it clear she wanted more to be done for bright, capable students to go to university or further education this year. and head teachers at english grammar schools have joined the chorus of criticism. in a statement, they say a great injustice has been done and the way results were assessed has led to utterly baffling outcomes for many students. this week, gcse results are due to be published in england, wales and northern ireland. this morning education ministers in northern ireland said these results would be based on teachers' assessments alone, putting more pressure on the government to follow suit in england. under pressure, the scottish government has already announced that exam results there will be based on the grades predicted by teachers, and labour say a—level results in england should now be decided in a similar way. the government should use teacher—assessed grades in respect of a—level students, underpin that with an appeals system in case a student feels their teacher—assessed grade isn't correct.

but now, of course, we don't know what sort of appeal system students are going to be relying on. the department for education says hundreds of thousands of school students in england already have the grades they need to continue with their education or seek employment. but some mps are privately confident that the government will make more substantial changes, and that's because the perception that bright kids from poorer backgrounds could be losing out is politically toxic. but some believe confidence in the system has already been badly dented. the public is losing confidence in the system, and it is up to 0fqual, which i know is working very hard, it is up to 0fqual, and especially the government to try to put in place something that will claw back some of that public confidence. i'm afraid it will not be able to claw back all of it. in order to learn we need a u—turn!

these students believe the government so far has failed the fairness test. and pressure for a revision of the system is increasing. iain watson, bbc news. jo—anne baird is a professor of educational assessment at oxford university and an adviser to 0fqual and its scottish equivalent, the scottish qualifications authority. she said that if the government does make a u—turn in england, it'll have a big impact on univerisities. i think this would be very difficult for universities to manage. some systemic thinking is needed to bring universities in and consult them about how long they will need to address this. let's not forget this year there are major health and safety considerations to having large groups of students coming into universities and into towns. so i think the government needs to be consulting with universities on this. we can speak now to the conservative mp caroline nokes.

talking about 0fqual, we've not heard from 0fqual or the education secretary or the prime minister. what's going on? i think we will hear from, what's going on? i think we will hearfrom, i hope, the education sector did come out for pm this afternoon and i think you are right to make the point we've not heard from 0fqual —— for pm this afternoon. —— apm this afternoon. the process has been a breathtakingly disappointing for all those 18—year—olds. breathtakingly disappointing for all those 18-year-olds. more than that, it is life changing for many of them. and they will want to know what on earth has gone wrong and who is responsible. i think the 18—year—olds i've spoken to and their parents right nowjust want to have certainty about their grades, get back to centre ss grades, understandably so, and they one certainty about whether their

university places —— centre assessed grades. i think it is hugely important that we get clarity because i think these young people have been treated desperately u nfa i rly have been treated desperately unfairly and it is not enough to have a postevent enquiry, we need change now. it is post event. many have their a—level results and already been turned down by their first choice at universities. this is chaotic. i have spent the last four days on the phone to university admissions tutors, two college principals in my area because we have a large sixth form colleges, not small school sixth forms. young people in my constituency have been disproportionately affected and it is about what practical steps we can ta ke to is about what practical steps we can take to help them get into their first choice university. i know universities are in some instances being a very understanding and tolera nt being a very understanding and tolerant and in others less so. i wa nt to tolerant and in others less so. i want to see young people helped. you

clearly expect to hear from the education secretary at four o'clock, what do you want gavin williamson to say question mark i want them to assessed grades? this is a generation of young people who have already suffered enough. this should have been the best year of their academic lives, looking forward to the future, all those important events about rites of passage, leaving school or college, they've had none of that. let's give them some certainty about what will happen with their grades and university futures if they are going to university. even if they are not going to university they still need to have grades commensurate with their abilities. spoke to many stu d e nts their abilities. spoke to many students who have been predicted a stars and walking away with much lower grades. gavin williamson was no fan of scotland's decision to do that, this would be a big u—turn, wouldn't it? it would be a very

significant u—turn, it also be a significant u—turn, it also be a sign ofa significant u—turn, it also be a sign of a government that is listening. i've spoken to gavin williamson, i had a conference call with nick gibb, they are listening to the views being expressed by backbench mps. it would be a significant step that will show compassion and kindness to young people whose mental health has already suffered over the past six months. it would show panic and confusion would it not, because this could have been taken many days ago. i think it should have been taken from the outset. we should have recognised this was an exceptional year. it was always going to be difficult. if we'd operated on a centre assessed grades universities would have known it months ago and been able to plan for numbers. we are now heading into another a few days before gcse results come in, an additional 700,000 young people we have to show compassion and kindness too. you're not the only

conservative mp to raise concerns today, where does the buck stop?|j today, where does the buck stop?” think we have to look very closely about decisions taken in the run—up to this decision got to deploy an algorithm, and we have to look at it from a human perspective. it is crucially important every single 18—year—old who took their a—levels the year or btec, because they have been problems with them as well, and every 16—year—old sitting gcses, we have to make sure we understand they have to make sure we understand they have had a terribly difficult year, we treat them kindly, give them certainty that they can move on to the next stage of their lives. i think it is a vital we get it right this afternoon. there cannot be any more prevarication and delay. thank you very much. with me now is our political correspondent helen catt. we clearly expect something at four o'clock, one would expect england will come into line with the other

uk nations. it's difficult to see how it can't be the case now wales hasjoined how it can't be the case now wales has joined scotland and how it can't be the case now wales hasjoined scotland and northern ireland and saying they will use teacher assessed grades for a—levels and gcses, it's very difficult to see how the department for education could just about not doing that in england, leaving english students at a disadvantage. i think that what we expect and we are seeing more and more tweets from conservative mps in the last few hours hinting that way and calling for a return to teacher assessed grades. i think that's probably where we are heading although we don't know for sure, the prime minister's official spokesman was asked earlier and he refused to deny that is where it was going with just said the government was working ona just said the government was working on a way to make the system fair. just said the government was working on a way to make the system fainm does not look great, though, all morning nothing from 0fqual or the government, no ministers coming out, what is widely acknowledged to be a crisis for bull taking a—levels.

yeah, it has been conspicuous by their absence over the past few days, ministers come on this. late last week they were digging in on this and is the prime minister said the system was robust as late as saturday gavin williamson was writing in the newspapers are saying to do this and go to centre assessed grades like scotland would devalue those grades. there will be an awful lot of grades if this goes ahead, as to why they chose to dig in quite so ha rd to why they chose to dig in quite so hard in the wake of the first of the stories coming out on thursday about people with large differences in their grades. there will be a call with conservative mps and schools minister nick gibb this evening and iimagine many minister nick gibb this evening and i imagine many questions such as this will be asked then. in terms of why has it taken so long, and how did england follow suit, we saw what happened in scotland got what could have been done to avoid a repeat of that in england? how much pressure

is on the education secretary? he has come in for a lot of criticism and we have not really seen or heard from him in the past few days. i think there will be a lot of pressure as well on 0fqual. whether that with the liberal democrats calling for gavin williamson's resignation, whether it goes that far we have to wait and see. this is a government that were very keen on i think that meat quite a difficult move in any case so we have to wait and see —— i think that would be a difficult move so we have to wait and see. 0ur wales correspondent tomos morgan had this update. we've had this statement from the welsh education minister christy williams, u—turn on the decision made last week, she made the decision late on wednesday evening

all pupils in wales would get results for a—levels, that would be no less than what the received in the same subject in their as—level the same subject in their as—level the year before but today we've got the year before but today we've got the decision everyone in wales will now have the decision on whatever their teachers had said they would get on anyone that got a higher grade last week they will maintain that higher grades. this decision comes from kirsty williams and it will also impact on those expecting results this week in gcses. a huge u—turn from the welsh government coming under huge pressure over the weekend got protests in cardiff bay from students and teachers and a petition online with our own tens of thousands people signing it, calling on the welsh government to back the teachers and ask why they did not back the teachers when it came to these grade changes following the decision last week from the

qualifications watchdog, they downgraded a2% of pupils' grades. huge outcry from teachers and pupils saying this was not fair and there was not parity across the uk and now we get this decision from the education minister saying everybody in wales will be getting a mark based on their teachers' assessed grades. it will make life rather difficult for welsh universities because a—level students have already been told their options, things will have to change. yeah, we heard from several pupils across the country who have had different grades from what their teachers predicted in some of those pupils have also now obviously been told they won't get their university place so what happens to them now they found out they will be getting they found out they will be getting the grades originally predicted by their teachers. a2% of pupils in wales had their grades downgraded by

qualifications wales early last week so it is a huge amount of pupils in wales that has affected. when kirsty williams made that announcement last week that pupils would get grades no less tha n week that pupils would get grades no less than their nas levels everyone thought that would come to some sort of parity but with different devolved nations and ministers across the nation is making different decisions on this, i think it was inevitable today the governments will have to fall in line and as you heard earlier, it would be interesting, difficult for the uk government not to follow suit now everywhere else is making the same decision. the foreign secretary dominic raab says the british government does not accept the result of what he described as a fraudulent presidential election in belarus. it comes as more protests have been taking place demanding that president alexander lukashenko — who has been in powerfor a quarter of a century — steps down. sarah rainsford reports.

chanting alexander lukashenko is used to being greeted by crowds, but never one like this. they are factory workers, once loyal, now demanding he should go. so, mr lukashenko flew in today, not to face them, only inside the factory was no better. booing. as he tried to speak, the workers shouted "leave". not just the tribune, but the presidency. their ruler of 26 years publicly humiliated. "now i've finished, you can shout", he eventually tells them. pressure has been building fast. sunday saw the biggest political rally ever in belarus. central minsk turned red and white as a crowd poured out to demand fresh elections. and today the woman many voted for sent a new message of support

from lithuania, where she fled to safety last week. svetlana tikhanovskaya said she's ready to act as a transitional leader, to release all of the political prisoners and to hold a fair vote that can be recognised by all the world. that statement will not be shown by state media, where these people work. so, they are now on strike, demanding an end to censorship. their action took one morning show off air. but there was no sign of trouble on the news channel, just the latest on the harvest. this is one of several presenters who has resigned. she told me she had to leave for ukraine because she was threatened for speaking out. her show wasn't even political. she cooked, helped by her children, but she said she could not smile from the screen any more after seeing the police brutally beating protesters.

translation: they tried to frighten people, but people got angry instead and now it is impossible to stop things. no one will ever forget what they did. it is a point of no return. they will never forgive this. there has been the odd scene like this, but it is the exception. the security forces mr lukashenko relies on are still loyal, and he is adamant he is in charge, but the protest wave against him is growing now, every day. sarah raynsford, bbc news, moscow. self—employed workers who are eligible for government support during the covid crisis can apply for a second, final, round of grants from today. more than three million people are eligible, but many self—employed people are concerned that they will be left out again. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. i can now speak to steve mcnamara

who's the general secretary of the licensed taxi drivers' association. how important has government been? the help given from the chancellor in march, we renewed the last application today, it has been crucial for the survival of some of our members and taxi drivers across the country. nobody is moving in london, there is no work, no income whatsoever. without this help many families were simply have gone without. absolute essential he did it. the chancellor says this will be the final pay—out, is there any evidence on the streets things are beginning to improve and get back to some sort of normality? there is not, no and this is our great concern. while the chancellor said this payment will run to october and it is the last, anywhere on the streets of certainly london and many big cities, there is nobody anywhere and no one has come back to work, civil servants are not back in whitehall, nover that back in city

of london or very few people, —— nobody back in the city of london. many roads have been closed and restricted which makes us less attractive as a transport option for many. it is a big concern, the biggest being no one is back at work. anecdotally, many people are still very concerned about travelling on the tube or crowded buses, is there not evidence taxis are getting some sort of benefit from that? certainly not at the moment because not enough people are moving around, just volume it is not there, the tubes are empty. as and when people come back to work, we suddenly expect to come out of it quite well, we drive the only vehicle designed to isolate people, partitions queen, two metres from the driver, boat —— partition screens. easy to clean. hopefully we would be in the idle position to

ta ke would be in the idle position to take up the slack in the public transport system but currently there is no slack to take up —— we would be in is no slack to take up —— we would beina is no slack to take up —— we would be in a position to take up the slack. it's very difficult to know what's happening right now. we are transitioning to electric vehicles, we we re transitioning to electric vehicles, we were transitioning at the rate of £3 million each week, that's how many we were buying, they average about £60,000 to buy, our members are investing in record numbers before covid. the irony for us as we had a hard few years with apps and stuff but we have seen a renaissance at the beginning of this year and end of last year with many of our customers returning to us, younger demographics choosing to use taxis in london and using these new electric cabs. contactless payments, we we re electric cabs. contactless payments, we were doing so well and like many, the covid the legs out from under

us. without the help and if things don't pick up in september and 0ctober don't pick up in september and october we are concerned they want, we will be in dire straits again. i will be contacting the chancellor again to ask and what he is doing but at the moment i will wait and see what happens. until the end of 0ctober? see what happens. until the end of october? we hope if there is a plan that when schools go back in september, presumably they go back, more people will return to work. we think there is a growing recognition amongst people working at home but out of sight is out of mind and when the redundancies come the people not in the office will be the ones picked off. equally, we are aware of many people working at home are beginning to recognise some employers will seek to find a cheaper alternative labour elsewhere in the world. if you can work from

home from sevenoaks or epping equal that you can do the job from somewhere and in their art the philippines and obviously i think people are recognising they will have to get back in the office some time, and we hope it will be around september. good to speak to you. thank you very much for your time. in thailand, thousands of people have joined an anti—government rally in bangkok calling for sweeping political reform. an estimated 20,000 activists gathered — demanding changes to the constitution, and a reform of the monarchy. it follows weeks of student—led demonstrations and comes as thailand has recorded its worst economic performance in two decades. it has been announced that new zealand will delay its general election by four weeks because of a fresh coronavirus outbreak. the prime ministerjacinda ardern says the poll will be moved from mid—september to october the 17th. the main opposition party supports the move. jacinda ardern says parliament will reconvene on tuesday to set out a new timetable for the campaign.

tonight the democratic national convention gets under way in the us — four days of events leading up to the main moment — crowning the presidential nomineejoe biden and his vice—presidential pick kamala harris. traditionally the event is loud and brash — but this year it will be a very different event. covid—19 fears mean that the only people attending in—person at the convention centre in milwaukee will be those running the event. mr biden will be dialling in to deliver his speech from delaware on thursday. neda tawfik has more. tens of thousands of people should have been descending on milwaukee to mark the start of the democrats' general election campaign. instead the party will be holding an unconventional convention because of health concerns surrounding the pandemic. this is what it should look like but the normallyjam packed arenas will be replaced by two hours of virtual programming each night. over the four days speakers

will include party heavyweights such as the 0bamas and clintons and a mix of moderates to progressive stars such as bernie sanders and alexandria 0casio—cortez. heading into the convention, this pollster says the biden—harris ticket is in a good position leading by a comfortable margin. conventions really don't play a large role in the election anyway so it's not going to really matter. in fact, it could just help him further. and what we have seen is him staying in place, staying in the shadows, letting president trump fall over his own rhetoric and his own handling of the pandemic and the protests and the economy, that has worked for biden really well in the last couple of months and we see that in the polls. his low—profile campaign, dubbed invisible by republicans, has certainly helped him control his image, avoiding the rigours of the campaign trail and grabbing attention at key moments. there's nothing ordinary about this election season. the typical issues that preoccupy campaigns have been overshadowed by the unprecedented challenges facing the economic and social well—being of americans.

and that means, inevitably, the incumbent, president trump, will ultimately face more scrutiny than his challengerjoe biden. what do we want? justice! democrats are hoping to attract a broad coalition that will turn out on election day. you know, just give the youth more than opportunity. —— you know, just give the youth more of an opportunity. whilejoe biden doesn't excite the progressive left wing voters who preferred his primary challenger bernie sanders, he hasn't alienated all of them either. i will vote forjoe biden because, again, as bernie sanders stated our end goal is to defeat donald trump and to not, you know, give him more ammo to split any votes, or to even have a low voter turnout. we cannot afford to let that happen because i do not know where we will be in the next four years from now but i pray that it is not with the occupant in the office that we currently have. we have to remember who we are. joe biden will officially accept the party's presidential nomination without the usual fanfare and balloon drop. no doubt the democratic national convention will look and feel very different.

like everything else this year. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. and this evening on bbc wews we'll bring you the latest from the first day of the democrat convention in delaware. that's from nine o'clock on the bbc news channel with christian fraser and katty kay. the highest temperature recorded on earth may have been reached in death valley national park in california today. the reading of 130 degrees fahrenheit, or 5a.a degrees celsius, comes amid a heatwave on the us's west coast, where temperatures are forecast to rise further this week. the scorching conditions have led to two days of blackouts in california, after a power plant malfunctioned on saturday. the reading is currently being verified by the us national weather service. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello. we continue with the threat of some intense thunderstorms

for england and wales well into the next 2a hours. the met office has a warning out for the potentialfor quite a lot of rain in a short space of time, shower clouds here piling across the rhondda a little earlier on in the day. showers will migrate their way northwards late into the afternoon, on into the evening. more persistent rain will pull away from northern ireland into the small hours of tuesday and then push towards wales and the north west of england. by then the thunderstorms will have cleared. pretty muggy night, lows of 1a or 15 celsius. into tuesday, this more organised area of cloud and rain will drift further north, bringing wet weather through the morning to northern england, thickening the cloud across southern scotland and bringing some rain in here through the afternoon. generally a cloudier day on tuesday for scotland. northern ireland will see some isolated showers. across england and wales, don't be fooled, that chart looks relatively clear, but those intense little spots are there behind me, there will once again with the risks of some intense thunderstorms.

hello this is bbc news with simon mccoy. the headlines: a u—turn from the welsh government — as it announces that a level and gcse students will now be awarded the grades calculated by their teachers. pressure mounts on the government over england's a level results — an announcement is expected this afternoon, amid fears similar chaos could surround thursday's gcses. here we are the monday after a—level results wadding there is not a proper appeals process in place and wadding there is now not enough confidence in the system for gcses, is frankly unacceptable. anger on the streets of belarus — with a new wave of strikes to try to force president alexander lukashenko to step down. millions of self—employed workers in the uk can apply for a second coronavirus support grant, but for many it's too late. a break with convention for the democrats —

no razzamatazz asjoe biden and kamala harris launch their golden ticket in the midst of a pandemic. coming up, united in grief — the mothers who lost sons in two high—profile killings just days apart now supporting one another. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. thank you, simon. there have been five pitch inspections at the ageas bowl so far today — another frustrating day for cricket fans. but they are in action now in southampton, for the final day of the test between england and pakistan. well, let's take a look at how things actually stand in this second test. england, who lead the series 1—0, are 12—1 in reply to pakistan's 236. dom sibley and zak crawley at the crease, after rory burns went for 0. the umpires and ground staff have come in for theirfair share of criticism. 0ur cricket reporter

henry moeran explains. the umpires have come out, they made the judgment call it is not safe to play. there is only so much the ground staff can do when they have got the sort of rain that we have had. certainly visually yesterday i think that is when there was the real frustration because you had a situation where play was called off at ten minutes to four, and at a:30pm it was glorious sunshine. a lot of the game's great and the good here working at the match said there didn't seem to be any urgency. why weren't they out there when the rain started to stop to try to clear things up. if you paid £70 for a ticket, you could be frustrated. there is certainly inflexibility within test cricket in getting games started. you can extend into the evening session if you have lost time but you can't start earlier, for example.

those sort of things have frustrated people and fans watching around the world. simona halep has become the latest big name to pull out of this month's us open because of the coronavirus pandemic. halep is the current world number two, and says she's decided not to play in new york because of what she calls the exceptional circumstances we're living in at the moment...adding that her health is at the heart of the decision. the current wimbledon champion is the sixth top ten player to opt out of the grand slam, which is being played behind closed doors from 31st august. some football news to bring you this afternoon, and joe hart is expected to join tottenham on a two—year deal. hart fell from favour with manchester city, after pep guardiola arrived in 2016, with loans to torino and west ham before a 2018 move to burnley. he's a free agent after leaving burnley at the end ofjune, and will compete with paulo gazzaniga to be hugo lloris' deputy at spurs. hart has won 75 caps for england over his career. and hart's former manchester city team mate vincent kompa ny has retired from playing. he's 3a and spent last season

as player—coach of the belgian side anderlecht. he'll now focus full time on management. ronnie 0'sullivan says a seventh world snooker title would be fantastic after his latest triumph at the crucible. he dominated kyren wilson to win his sixth world championship title. 0'sullivan is nowjust one world title away from matching stephen hendry‘s record. whilst he's still firmly focused on his own career, 0'sullivan hasn't ruled out helping other players to develop in the future — and that could inlcude yesterday's beaten finallist. yesterday's beaten finalist. kyren doesn't need any help but i'm sure he would be someone that if i stopped playing i would love to sort of maybe try and help him in some sort of way. i know he's up for learning stuff and maybe i could be a ray reardon for kyren one day.

he has tremendous ability and it would be great at some point to do that. but i have got to be a little bit selfish first and put myself first. there's only so many hours and time in the day, so i'm more focused on what i can do rather than what i can do for others at the moment in that respect. ronnie 0'sullivan there. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. gavin, thank you. let's return to the news over the exam grades. pressure is mounting on ministers to let teacher—assessed grades stand in england to avoid a second wave of exams chaos hitting gcse results this week. about a0% of a—level results were downgraded after the exams regulator 0fqual used an algorithm based on schools' previous results. jo—anne baird is a professor of educational assessment at oxford university and an adviser to 0fqual and its scottish equivalent, the scottish qualifications authority. she said that if the government does make a u—turn in england, it'll have a big impact on universities. i think this will be very difficult for universities to manage. i think

some systemic thinking is needed here, bringing the universities in and consulting them about how long they will need to address this. let's not forget this year there are major health and safety considerations to having large groups of students coming in to universities and two towns, so i think the government does need to be consulting with universities on this. here we are in the middle of august, you are an adviser to 0fqual, they have had months to think about this. why are we where we are now? normally a new exam system would take years to develop, consult on, evaluate. in fact, some countries take over a decade to change exam systems, but 0fqual have been charged with constructing something that they have managed to roll out in a number of months so thatis roll out in a number of months so that is really quite an achievement. and yet we are in this utter chaos.

the chaos is about the reaction to the results, which haven't carried public confidence. it was known in advance that some of these results would be unfair so it does need to be accompanied by an appeals process so that individuals can challenge with evidence the results they have been given on the basis of a statistical model. one gets the impression that behind the scenes somewhere there has been an almighty row. you have had 0fqual putting out a press release, then withdrawing it, and we haven't heard anything from government at all about it this morning. what is your assessment of what is going on behind the scenes? policy is always murky. i don't have any behind the scenes insight to give you on this. i think there will be some robust exchanges between 0fqual and the government as they tried to come to a solution in the interests of all the candidates who have taken their interests of all the candidates who have ta ken their exams interests of all the candidates who have taken their exams this year.

these results will stick with these people throughout their lives, so it is incredibly important to get this right. isn't it too late for many of them already? many have gone through clearing and been told they cannot get the places they wanted. their lives have been affected permanently. that is the question. is this a radical year in which many things have to shift because of the effect of the virus? so it might well be the government have to remove the cap on student entry into university which they had placed this year, and look again at when the universities can take decisions. could they allow students to come later and so on? there's a number of ways out of this that would help this year's students. that is great to hear but the question is how on earth did we get into this? so the secretary of state decided he wanted a system which didn't allow

increases in results, not such a large proportion of increases in results compared with previous yea rs. results compared with previous years. that is a decision about grade inflation. what he was trying to do grade inflation. what he was trying todoi grade inflation. what he was trying to do i suspect is carried public confidence in the grades from this year. we do know that if we have teacher assessment, we know this empirically from previous years and from other countries that we would have an increase in the results and thatis have an increase in the results and that is what we have seen in centre assessed grades. the results at grade a would go up from 25% to something like 38% this year so the question from the government is whether they can stomach some grade inflation for one year against the injustices that students feel have resulted from the statistical model that has been used. how would you grade the government on their

performance so far on this? u nfortu nately i performance so far on this? unfortunately i am not a professor of politics, so i'm not dishing out grade for this, but it was always going to be difficult and it really needs political leadership now to lay the path forward so that we get an open appeals system for students so they can challenge not only the grades they have been given now but the teacher assessments they have been given because there will be injustices there. some of them which may be simply administrative errors but it's important pupils as well as schools can appeal the results. jo—anne baird talking to me a little earlier. you are watching bbc news. for people living in abusive relationships, lockdown made it notjust harder for them to leave but also, for many, it meant the violence got worse. that s according to the first in—depth research about the impact of lockdown on the scale and nature of domestic abuse, carried out by the charity women s aid exclusively for the bbc s panorama programme.

in the first weeks of lockdown, someone called the police about domestic abuse every 30 seconds. victoria derbyshire reports. this isjess. for years, her husband had been abusive to her. but when lockdown was announced, things got worse. that stay—at—home message, what did that mean to you? seriously? yeah. the charity women's aid have been working on the first in—depth research about the impact of lockdown on domestic abuse, for panorama. of the people they spoke to, almost two—thirds of those living with an abuser said the violence had got worse. more than three—quarters of women said lockdown had made it

harder for them to escape. jess got out and to a place of safety. but finding a room in a refuge was harder than ever during lockdown. there were 1,100 fewer available beds. that's a drop of a2% compared to the same time last year. is it likely she is going to be accepted? marie williamson manages this refuge in london. marie's desperately trying to find a woman and her children a bed in an alternative refuge, after their whereabouts were mistakenly revealed by a third party. i've had five refuges of the seven refuges that were available and they've all declined. i'm going to ring up one other and then after that i've got no other options. 19 days after lockdown began, the government announced it would give an additional £2 million to domestic abuse helplines. the timing was dreadful. it should not have taken 19 days to mobilise any sort of action,

and what it highlights is that it wasn't a priority for the government. it is a poor effort. were you too slow to act? i don't think we were because when we were talking to charities in the very, very earliest days we were very much responding — we said to them, what you need for us to help? can i tell you how many people were killed in alleged domestic abuse cases in the three weeks between lockdown and when that announcement was made for the two million for the helplines? it was 11 women and two children, and one man in those three weeks. charities, the police, we all work incredibly hard to keep victims and survivors. we must never take attention away from the fact that it is abusive people who committed those murders. victoria derbyshire, bbc news.

and you can see more on that story tonight at 7.30 on bbc one in panorama: escaping my abuser. the headlines on bbc news... a u—turn from the welsh government as it announces that a level and gcse students will now be awarded the grades calculated by their teachers. pressure mounts on the government over england's a level results — an announcement is expected this afternoon amid fears similar chaos could surround thursday's gcses. anger on the streets of belarus — with a new wave of strikes to try to force president alexander lukashenko to step down. to the us now, where house speaker nancy pelosi is arranging for a vote in congress later this week on legislation to protect the postal service. ms pelosi has accused president trump of a "campaign to sabotage the election" and her democratic party is looking to unwind recent changes which they say could hamper postal voting in november's presidential election.

alanna petroff has the story. banjo playing and singing. # to not deliver us mail should be against the law #. cheering. it's come to this. a musical protest about the post office. demonstrators gathered outside the home of the new postmaster general, louis de joy, for another day of dissent. de joy, recently appointed to the role, is a big trump donor. his costcutting moves at the cash—strapped postal service have slowed down mail delivery. i was overseas and i cast my vote by mail—in ballot! protesters worried dejoy‘s changes will hinder mail—in voting during the 2020 presidential election. voting by mail is especially important this year. many americans will want to avoid busy polling stations to cut down on the risk of catching the coronavirus.

president trump isn't a fan of voting by mail. he's warned of potential voter fraud — without proof — and he says he's blocking billions of additionalfunding for the postal service which democrats want to deliver a fair election. you are going to have a catastrophic situation with universal mail—in votes. members of the democratic party accused the president of trying to suppress votes. he says he wants to slow down the mail to hurt the elections and make people doubt the results of the election. maybe he's worried he's going to lose, it doesn't matter. 0ur elections are sacred. men and women have died for them and the right to vote, and to do this is disgraceful. democratic presidential contender joe biden recently tweeted this...

democrats believe the leaders of the us postal service have some explaining to do. the us house of representatives is calling on top figures in the postal service to testify at an emergency hearing on august 2ath. they specifically want to hearfrom this man, the postmaster general himself. the us postal service has a long—time motto about making swift deliveries, despite snow and rain. voters will be hoping that even with financial difficulties and polarising politics, the postal service will stick to its motto and make sure every vote gets through and gets counted. alanna petroff, bbc news. they were two killings — just days apart — which shocked the country. the deaths of harry dunn

and pc andrew harper in totally different circumstances happened in the glare of the public eye. now, their mums have found support from each other, and in discussing their grief they even discovered that their boys shared a birthday. graham satchell has been to talk to them. two mothers bound together by the loss of a son. pc andrew harper's mother, debbie, and harry dunn's mother, charlotte, have formed a remarkable bond. you are very careful with how much you let others see but when you know that you've got somebody that's equally broken inside, it's easier. charlotte's son, harry, died when the motorbike he was riding was hit head—on by anne sacoolas, who was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road. ms sacoolas, the wife of an american intelligence officer, claimed diplomatic immunity and left the country. debbie's son andrew harper was killed in the line of duty. after attempting to make an arrest, he was dragged behind a carfor almost a mile.

you wake up and it's on your mind. before you've woken up it's already there. there's no waking up in the morning thinking, "ah..." and then, "0h. you know, there's nothing that breaks it. it's 2a/7. you know, 2a hours a day. it's just the physical pain that you feel all day, every day. and it doesn't... it just doesn't go away. both women have turned the pain of losing a son into campaigning. debbie is fighting for andrew's law — it would mean an automatic 20—year sentence for anyone convicted of killing a police officer. charlotte wants anne sacoolas, who's been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, to go through the british justice system. to take on your government and the american government, you know, it's larger than enormous — it's a monster. and she's just kept going. but as i know, you keep going for your boy. but i think what we're both hoping

is our campaigns will be able to help us to learn to actually live again. but debbie and charlotte are still haunted by the horrific ways they lost their sons. 0bviously with andrew, he was 99% unconscious at the very first when he went down. but that 1% becomes enormous in the middle of the night when you're feeling so sad. you feel their pain and you feel guilty that you weren't with them. and you'd do anything you could... as horrific as it may have been, to have just been there and held their hand and let them know that... even though they would have still died, that you were there to comfort them. and we both had that taken from us. that was robbed. debbie and charlotte will continue to support each other, continue to fight for their boys. graham satchell, bbc news.

ronnie 0'sullivan has won the world snooker championship again. but despite his charisma and superstar status, few younger players seem to picking up on his cue. with fears enthusiasm for the game is being — well — snookered. nesta mcgregor reports. the 2020 betfred world snooker champion! snooker is a game of numbers for ronnie 0'sullivan. these are the significant ones. a cheque for £500,000. the sport's biggest pay day. 28 years as one of the game's elite, and world title number six. to be here and have had all them victories, it's a dream but it's kind of becoming a bit of a reality as well so it's nice to be living a dream. like most sports, snooker has

had to adapt to life during the covid outbreak. but last week its long—term future 0'sullivan was worried about. if you look at the younger players coming through, they're not that good, really. they're so bad that a lot of them you see now, you think, i've properly got to lose an arm and a leg to fall outside the top 50, do you know what i mean? those words probably provided no comfort to a sport keen to boost participation numbers. if we go back ten years, and junior events, junior events around the world were at an all—time low. what we have seen is a steady increase and actually in the last two years we have seen a huge increase. 0'sullivan won his first major title in 1993, aged just 17, and while he doesn't know how many frames he has got left, he has been inspiring players for generations. ronnie is a different level, he is just so good at the game, and i aspire to be like him. 16—year—old jamie wilson from hampshire will play his first match as a professional in september.

not bad, considering he only entered the cue school qualifying tournament to assess the strength of his game. in the first year i am just going to see how it is and take the experience from it. maybe in the second year hopefully do well in some tournaments but i'm just going to go and have the experience sort of thing, see how it is. for most young players, the dream is to make it to the professional tour. but first it's a venue like this and plenty of practice hours. ronnie 0'sullivan's comments could provide extra motivation for snooker‘s next generation, and who knows? one day they might be across the table from him and able to let to their cues do the talking. nesta mcgregor, bbc news. flash flooding has caused travel disruption and damage to homes and businesses across southern parts of the country this weekend. it comes after the met office issued yellow thunderstorm warnings for much of england and wales following last week's hot weather. alex dunlop has more.

i've never in my life seen anything like this. biblical is how sean and his wife described the scene in peterborough on sunday afternoon, as hailstones the size of golf balls rained down. wow! oh, my god! out in the bristol channel, a water spout appeared on sunday, visible from somerset to south wales. and in essex, when their road became a river, keith — a former canoeist for gb — and his mate james couldn't resist the urge, and took to the water. we grabbed the boat — we grabbed that, a couple of sets of paddles, and we were surprised how deep it was and we managed to do a few efforts up and down the front there. we've done races all around the world and you just look around and there's people hanging out the windows, looking at it. flash flooding this weekend across parts of the east midlands and the south—east took many by surprise. cars struggled with the rising waters. this shopping mall in chelmsford

was flooded and had to be evacuated. kimberly helps mop up her restaurant in the city — she only opened last november, then the coronavirus pandemic came. she was just getting a business back on its feet when she and her staff were confronted with this. within minutes, they were flooded. from the road to the back of the shop, all the back of the shop was all flooded. there was no warnings. we didn't know that it was going to be this bad. and the shocking thing was it wasn't even for that long. the flooding wasn't confined to essex — at bishops stortford in hertfordshire, firefighters used a kayak to rescue two people and a dog from a car stuck on a flooded road. apprehensive business owners have sandbags on stand—by as more heavy rain is forecast. alex dunlop, bbc news. the world's oldest giant captive panda, has celebrated her 38th

birthday at a zoo in in south—west china. that's the equivalent of 11a in human years. xinxing recieved a birthday cake covered with herfavourite foods: bamboo shoots, carrots and watermelons. more than 100 panda fans attended the birthday party at the zoo. which kept her cool. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello. we continue with the threat of intense but localised thunderstorms over the next 2a hours, producing scenes like these with clouds on the horizon and this beautiful rainbow. the thundery showers will migrate northward late afternoon into the evening before petering out, then we will see this area of more persistent rain pulling away from northern ireland, swirling across the irish sea to end the night. pretty muggy once again, lows of 1a degrees.

into tuesday, this swirl of rain will pull across northern wales into northern england through the morning before pushing northwards into scotland during the course of the day. looking at the map, it looks like it's petering out but we can still see intense rainfall working northwards across scotland. for england and wales, yes, some decent sunshine but still locally the risk of some intense thunderstorms. for the remainder of the week, we turn to the atlantic and areas of low pressure — two centres in fact in this circulation here, which will bring strong winds to all parts of the uk throughout the remainder of the week. wednesday, particularly i think for western areas. as we see this band of rain coming in, and this could be heavy enough again to cause localised flooding. with pretty soggy ground we could see winds reaching a0 mph bringing down the odd tree. scotland looking driest and brightest through the middle of the week. thursday, if we look closely at the weather chart, we will see a gap between the bands of rain, the isobars

opening up a touch. first thing on thursday not too bad for the uk but we have showery rain approaching from the west, and the winds will pick up through the course of the day again, particularly gusty towards the west with showers crowding in. in the east with some sunshine, a little warmer once again, up to 25 degrees. perhaps it's friday that's our greatest cause for concern. that looks like the day that will bring the peak winds. more rain pushing across the uk but the winds could reach 50 mph in exposure towards the west, strong enough potentially to cause damage and disruption. an unseasonably windy end in store to the week ahead.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a major government u—turn in england, as the exams regulator says all gcse and a level results in england will now be based on assessments by teachers. we realised that we had taken the wrong road here and we needed to change course. these are unprecedented circumstances. the move comes after the welsh government announced it would do the same, and northern ireland promised teacher assessment for gcses there.

breaking news this hour — in a major u—turn the government will let teacher assessed grades stand in england for last week's a—level results, and in the upcoming gcse results this week. about a0% of a—level results were downgraded after the exams regulator 0fqual used an algorithm based on schools' previous results. the chair of 0fqual, roger taylor, explained the decision. teacher assessed grades, the trades schools and colleges set as being the grade they thought students with achieved in their exam should be awarded for gcses and a—levels and as. btec are not affected by this decision.

this decision was made almost a week after scotland reached the same conclusion, what has changed? what changed was seeing the experience of young people receiving grades and being distressed at the need to have to appeal grades where they felt they were wrong, this was causing anxiety for young people, it was putting an administrative burden on teachers at a time they need to be preparing for the new term, and seeing this, we realised that we had taken the wrong road here and we needed to change course. these are unprecedented circumstances, the task we attempted to do was set exam grades with no exams taking place, we developed an approach that has been used in other countries as

well, but it is clear that while it may have technical merits in some ways, it simply has not been an a cce pta ble ways, it simply has not been an acceptable experience for young people and therefore we decided we should change course and allow the centre assessed grades to be awarded. is this really the opportunity to say sorry unequivocally to students and their families who have had five agonising the stressful days? yes. i would like to say sorry. we have recognised the difficulty young people have faced coping with the receipt of grades they were unable to understand the basis on which they have been awarded. and i would like to say sorry for that. and we are now taking steps to put that right. that was the chair of quual roger taylor talking to our education editor.

the government u—turn comes after ministers found themselves under increasing pressure from fellow politicians and the public. the decision makes england the last part of the united kingdom to rethink the way grades are decided. the welsh government announced this afternoon that both a level and gcse students will now be awarded the grades predicted by their teachers. northern ireland earlier confirmed this would apply to all gcse results on thursday and scotland announced their decision last week that exam results would be based on teacher assesments and not the ill—fated algorithm. with me now is our political correspondent helen catt. the education secretary gavin williamson was saying on saturday using teachers' assessments with the value grades, what has changed? well, this is a significant shift, there is no doubt. significant neutron from where we were. as you said the uk government was

absolutely clear when the system was coming out last week it was not planning to u—turn on this, as late as this weekend gavin williamson was writing that this with the value grades want to follow suit after what scotland did unused teacher assessed grades. that's the question that will be to gavin williamson, —— after scotla nd that will be to gavin williamson, —— after scotland used teacher assessed grades. what does this mean for mr williamson, how much pressure is the under? he has come in for a lot of criticism because of the decision to stand by the system, the promised on thursday called it robust and there have been many months for the government to get this right, exams we re government to get this right, exams were cancelled in march. they have had quite a long time. then they had the experience of scotland and watching the scottish government's decision to u—turn, to try to make

sure at this did not happen in england and yet here we are one week on finding ourselves in exactly the same situation. lots of questions will be asked. well that put pressure on his position? the liberal democrats called for as resignation —— will that put pressure? we know this administration is quite keen to keep its cabinet ministers. changing the education secretary in the middle of a pandemicjust one month before schools are supposed to reopen would be very difficult. helen, thank you. zainab ali from east london lost out on a place at her first choice university because of her exam results. i'm delighted to say she joins us now. thanks for speaking to us again. remind us what you are predicted and what you got and what this change will mean for you.” predicted and what you got and what this change will mean for you. i was predicted a star, a, c from the

school and was dropped a grades on each one. i was then not able to get into my first choice university and had to go into the unconditional offer which was my second choice at westminster. and i had always wished i could go to queen mary but because of the grades i had got and how i was dropped per subject, i could not get into my first choice in the end. given this change we are hearing about in the past five minutes, what impact could this have on you, do you think? unfortunately i cannot go to queen mary because the course is full and i had to queen mary because the course is fulland i had no to queen mary because the course is full and i had no chance after being given a grades d in chemistry. at this point i am still going to go to westminster, i won't be able to get

into queen mary. but i am relieved i can get the grades i deserve after hearing this announcement.” can get the grades i deserve after hearing this announcement. i can imagine what a difficult and stressful time this has been, can you tell us about what it has been like? it has been hectic. the first day when i came into school and received my results i started crying out of frustration because of how i could not change that and given the fa ct could not change that and given the fact my school was closing down really impacted me as well as other stu d e nts really impacted me as well as other students in my position. and i knew automatically i just could students in my position. and i knew automatically ijust could not get into queen mary and i found them and asked, can i get in these are my circumstances. and they said no. they said to call back after i appealed my grades, and after i contacted them several times they said the cause is full we cannot

consider an application from you. it has been hectic, very confusing and upsetting and frustrating and the first day was the worst. thank you so much for speaking to us here on bbc news, and good luck. thank you. toby newton was predicted one a and two a stars but was downgraded to two bs and one c. he had not be accepted into any universities he'd applied for. tobyjoins us now. will this change that we are hearing about what impact will it have on you? it is good news for me and my peers and will allow many of my friends because they are not doing a medical degree to go to their university places, it will give me the opportunity potentially to go to university but i won't be able to go back into uk medical schools because

clearing has finished for medicine because it is so competitive. however, the indecisiveness of the government will mean at my place at cyprus has been given to another student. just explain a little bit more about how it works. your predicted grades were higher than the grades you are given, what happens now, do you go back to that university or go back into clearing? so, iam university or go back into clearing? so, i am going through the appeal process soon, as soon as the process has been delivered to my school. i should get my teachers' assessment grades, which were abb but that is still not good enough for uk medical schools, so i think because clearing for medicine, i might be able to go to cyprus to do medicine which is good because i could still become a

doctor which is my ambition. but also won't get my first choice. just to be clear, they change the government has announced at the apm and we have been bringing people, it has come too late for you? potentially, yes, it has. in terms of medicine, yeah. i would like you to reflect, if you would, on what the last five days have been like because it is a difficult enough time as it is. it has been really stressful a nd time as it is. it has been really stressful and hectic, with the whole triple lock system being rejected and some of the guidelines being unannounced and making it very confusing. but i think, if this, if we get given our teachers' assessment grades this will give more assurance to many students in this position. but personally, for

me, it is still a bit of a roller—coaster in terms of the whole assessment because i am still waiting on these assessment grades to come through which could be as late as the 7th of september. so you have got a few more days of nervousness waiting, from the sound of it, toby. good luck to you, and i hope it all works out. thank you. thanks for talking to us. iam being thanks for talking to us. i am being sent a tweet from the labour leader keir starmer but u nfortu nately i labour leader keir starmer but unfortunately i do not have it but we can read it there... that's weak just

that's weakjust put out by labour leader keir starmer. —— that tweet just put out by labour leader keir starmer. mary curnock cook is a former chief executive of the university admissions body, ucas. your reaction, first of all, to this u—turn. well, it is sad and happy. gosh, what a mess this all is. i think we need to just move quickly on to work out how students like the ones you spoke to, can get themselves on the right path, and also, critically, how universities and their hard—working admissions officers can quickly mobilise to try to accommodate this huge change because there are literally tens of thousands of students whose

decisions, decisions have already been made by universities about who they accept and who they don't accept and who goes to clearing and so on. and this change will mean universities have to rethink completely. there is one thing missing from, i listen to the 0fqual announcement, i think we must expect from the government very soon and announcement that the cap on recruitment for universities should be lifted. because many of them have filled their places, quite rightly, based on the grades that were published last week. and now they are being asked to take in potentially tens of thousand more stu d e nts potentially tens of thousand more students who have moved back to their centre assessed grades. universities, they are really keen to try to help students and be as accommodating as possible but u nfortu nately accommodating as possible but unfortunately there will be some courses that are just physically

full and may have to offer deferrals. i really hope also the government might think about what it can put in place for students who have been forced to defer even though their grades are now right for their first though their grades are now right for theirfirst choice. so though their grades are now right for their first choice. so the do something productive over the next 12 months. you speak about tens of thousands of students, am i right 55,000 students have got a place at their second choice university or clearing and that as a result of this decision the government has just announced, those 55,000 people could potentially go back to their first choice university? yeah, on the face of it that is true. there is another 80,000 or so in the system who are holding offers which would have been about perhaps waiting for appeals or universities to make a decision, so potentially still up at 150,000 students in play

at this stage. and i can see from the data in a lot of universities have already taken on a lot of growth compared to last year. and a lwa ys growth compared to last year. and always assuming the cap is lifted, and i'm sure that announcement will come soon, there will still be a great deal of capacity that the system just simply can't meet. don't forget also universities are having to plan for covid secure campuses this autumn. so i have huge faith in the system, the university sector, admissions officers, and i know although they will probably be tearing their hair out right now, they will really want to do their best for students. in some ways it almost feels as though the shift, there has been a shift from the administrative burden on schools to universities now. i do wonder, i use they were a shambles, you may not,

who do you blame for the situation? iamjust who do you blame for the situation? i am just not going to get into that because, actually, we need to now mobilise, to make the best we possibly can of a really difficult situation. i've got sympathy all round, for 0fqual, the government, students, schools, universities, eve ryo ne students, schools, universities, everyone has had a really difficult time out of this. and the key now is to work on behalf of students who have had such a stressful few days, as the pupils you just spoke to were saying, and to try to give them some sort of confidence and surety about what is happening to them for the next academic year. thanks so much for your thoughts, good to hearfrom you. let's speak now to a level student nina bunting mitcham.

. thank you forjoining us. tell us about how mary, i know you are still there, there you are, nina, good to see you, tell us about what has happened to you and hope you are affected by this change. iamso affected by this change. i am so happy for my future, my peers in my college, everybody else affected, everybody else has been heard finally and the fact that i was given a prediction of abb means i will now have those grades and be able to become a vet, eventually. honestly, i could not be happier. i really could not. that is tremendous news. you are basically saying your predicted grades were higher than the grades you received when you open the envelope on thursday? yes.

i was predicted abb and received ddd. quite a drop. in the meantime, that was five days ago, what did you do when you received those three ds, what the college say that you are supposed to be going to? they said to go through the appeals process, we will keep your place until the 31st of august, if you don't get your grades until then we will still keep your place for 2021 term. so i was prepared to do whatever it took for another year if that had to happen. brilliant. it has worked out for you. i want to know what you make of the whole system. i imagine it must have been very difficult.” think they've really embarrassed themselves, actually. but i think they have been able to turn it

around at the moment and show they do have a heart and they do have some form of realisation of what they had done to people and they have listened, for once. i am really glad for that. and maybe they might ta ke glad for that. and maybe they might take this experience further into other experiences and look back on this, this might benefit further situations. congratulations, we are delighted for you, as you clearly are delighted and thanks for talking to us here on bbc news. andrew bull is the headteacher of cardinal newman school — a secondary school in luton — and hejoins me now. thanks forjoining us. how will this change affect your school? we had 5296 change affect your school? we had 52% of our centre assessed grades downgraded, last week, it has a massive impact on our children and on the young people in our care. i'm

delighted this news, afterfive on the young people in our care. i'm delighted this news, after five days of what can only be described as havoc that has been caused, i think it has shown faith in schools and teachers, head teachers and it is putting the children first rather than the statistics. i'd like to ask you about the concerns around grade inflation. and ijust wonder what your concerns around grade inflation. and i just wonder what your thoughts are, how worried we should be teachers have been overoptimistic in the assessments they have given pupils, or is this just the year that we should err on the side of generosity? i think every school has gone through a very rigorous way of ensuring the centre assessed grades are ensuring the centre assessed grades a re reflective of ensuring the centre assessed grades are reflective of their cohorts. if that means there has been a rise in results then this is the year that has happened. all i know is we went through three or four weeks of very rigorous procedure in order to get

to the grades. in our school and i'm sure many other schools will be delighted young people have got their grades. one wonders how it got to this point and who do you blame? 0fqual, the prime minister? i'm not going to get involved in at the blame game except we could have a clarity a lot earlier. schools we re a clarity a lot earlier. schools were asked to change on a 10p piece in 2a hours back in march and schools everywhere managed it, the government has had five months to sort something out and now we've come to the right decision. how damaging will this speed to confidence in the entire exam system ? confidence in the entire exam system? -- how damaging will this be? 0ur priority is to look after children and then we can start looking at the format. lots of people are looking into that. at the moment we need to celebrate our su ccesses , moment we need to celebrate our successes, the hard work of the

teachers, and then we can look at possible at what the examination system is and if any changes are needed. can you tell me some more. as you say, nearly half of your stu d e nts as you say, nearly half of your students have got better grades now than the ones they received when they open those envelopes on thursday, presumably the experience of each of those individual students now going forward is not going to be the same, what will happen to them? there are problems now obviously this has caused. universities have already filled courses so there needs to be worked on, as the lady on earlier on, we need to work with universities to ensure children get on the right course. there will still be appeals for children who are not happy with their centre assessed grades and then the ongoing effect these grades will have on yea r‘s effect these grades will have on year's below. those would be my observations about what we need to do next. final question, you mentioned the appeal system, are you

any mentioned the appeal system, are you a ny clearer mentioned the appeal system, are you any clearer as to how that will work? not as yet. i will have to look at the documentation, i am is new to this as you are, we are delighted about the announcement and then obviously there will be a process that will be outlined in the document later on. and hopefully that will be nice and clear and straightforward. we must leave it there but thanks so much for taking there but thanks so much for taking the time to speak to us. you are very welcome. i want to bring you a statement from education secretary gavin williamson just been issued and it says this has been an extraordinarily difficult yearfor has been an extraordinarily difficult year for young people who we re difficult year for young people who were unable to take their exams. we worked with 0fqual to construct the fa i rest worked with 0fqual to construct the fairest possible model but it is clear the process of allocating grades has resulted in more significant inconsistencies that can be resolved through an appeals process. we now believe it is better

to offer young people and parents certainty by moving to teacher assessed grades for both a—level and as level and gcse results. i am sorry for any distress this has caused young people and their pa rents caused young people and their parents but i hope this announcement will provide the certainty and stu d e nts will provide the certainty and students they deserve. that is a statement from education secretary gavin williamson. apologising and saying this has been an extraordinarily difficult period for young people and he hopes the more significant inconsistencies are now removed. earlier the welsh government confirmed they will use teacher assessments to mark a—level and gcse‘s. 0ur wales correspondent tomos morgan has the latest. we have just had the statement from the welsh education minister kirsty williams. a u—turn on the decision

made last week, she made the decision late on wednesday evening all pupils in wales would get results for their a—levels that would be no less than what they received in the same subject and their as the year before but today we have the decision everyone in wales will have the decision on whatever their teachers had said they would get and anyone that got a higher grade last week they will maintain that. this decision comes and it will also impact on those expecting the results in gcses this week. huge u—turn from the welsh government coming under huge pressure over the weekend, protest in cardiff bay from students and teachers and that petition online with tens of thousands of people signing, calling on the welsh government to back the teachers and ask why they did not back the teachers when it came to the great

changes following the decision last week from the qualifications watchdog, they downgraded a2% of pupils' grades, huge outcry from teachers and pupils are saying it was not fair and there was no parity across the uk and now we get this decision from education minister saying everybody in wales will be getting a mark based on their teachers' assessed grades. let's get more on the situation in northern ireland. 0ur correspondent chris page is in belfast for us — he says hugely significant decisions have already been taken over there. the education minister and the devolved government peter weir has announced gcse results in northern islands on thursday will be determined by predicted grades, given by teachers and by that alone. a big change, he said he made this

decision in order to reassure pupils and their relatives and also ease anxieties. last week when a—level results were given, more than one third of the predicted grades given by teachers were lowered by the exam body which led to strong criticism by principals and also by teenagers who were going to have to sit the exams would it not for a coronavirus. mr weir made the announcement this morning and was askedif announcement this morning and was asked if he would follow suit and also revert a—level results to teacher predictions and he said at the moment he was not planning on doing that, why, the vast majority of gcse in northern ireland are set by the northern ireland exam board over which the exam board has authority but the a—levels in northern ireland, about one in five is set by an english exam board. if there is a change announced in

england for a—level and as results, that could affect the attitude of the stormont executive with regards to its next steps in this issue. let's pause for breath and catch up with the weather. hello. we continue with the threat of some intense thunderstorms for england and wales well into the next 2a hours. the met office has a warning out for the potentialfor quite a lot of rain in a short space of time, shower clouds here piling across the rhondda a little earlier on in the day. showers will migrate their way northwards late into the afternoon, on into the evening. more persistent rain will pull away from northern ireland into the small hours of tuesday and then push towards wales and the north west of england. by then the thunderstorms will have cleared. pretty muggy night, lows of 1a or 15 celsius. into tuesday, this more organised area of cloud and rain will drift further north, bringing wet weather through the morning to northern england, thickening the cloud

across southern scotland and bringing some rain in here through the afternoon. generally a cloudier day on tuesday for scotland. northern ireland will see some isolated showers. across england and wales, don't be fooled, that chart looks relatively clear, but those intense little spots are there behind me, there will once again with the risks of some intense thunderstorms. hello this is bbc news with me, rebecca jones. the headlines: a major government u—turn in england as the exams regulator says all gcse and a level results in england will now be based on assessments by teachers. we realised that we had taken the wrong road here and we need to change course. these are unprecedented circumstances. the move comes after the welsh government announced the same earlier today, and northern ireland pledged

to do the same for gcses. anger on the streets of belarus — with a new wave of strikes to try to force president alexander lukashenko to step down. millions of self—employed workers in the uk can apply for a second coronavirus support grant, but for many it's too late. a break with convention for the democrats — no razzmatazz asjoe biden and kamala harris launch their golden ticket in the midst of a pandemic. coming up, united in grief — the mothers who lost sons in two high—profile killings just days apart now supporting one another. a woman has been charged with the murder of a ten—year—old boy in acton in west london. 0lga freeman, who is a0, has been remanded in custody and will appear

at the central criminal court on wednesday 19th august. ten—year—old dylan freeman's body was discovered in acton in the early hours of sunday morning. our news correspondentjohn mcmanus was in court. he canjoin us now. what more can you tell us? this court appearance sparked by the discovery of ten—year—old dylan freeman's body... in acting a part of west london. his body discovered on sunday. today in court five at uxbridge magistrates' court behind me, his mother, ao—year—old 0lga freeman, appeared to answer a charge of murder. she stood in the dock surrounded by three officers and spoke only to confirm her name, address and age. she was told she would be remanded

in custody and will make her next court appearance next wednesday morning where she will answer the charge of murder. john, what tributes have been paid to dylan? dylan's father, dean freeman, has paid a heartfelt tribute to his son. mr freeman said he was in spain when he heard the devastating news of his sons death. he described dylan as an artistic, happy, creative soulwho loved to swim, who loved to travel. the two had been to several countries around the world including brazil, spain and france, and mr freeman says not surprisingly that he is absolutely devastated by the loss of his son. thank you, john. in a major u—turn the government will let teacher assessed grades stand in england for last week's a—level results and in the upcoming gcse results this week. about a0% of a—level results

were downgraded after the exams regulator 0fqual used an algorithm based on schools' previous results. the chair of 0fqual, roger taylor, explained the decision. seeing the experience of young people receiving grades and being distressed at the need to have to appeal grades where they felt they we re appeal grades where they felt they were wrong, this was causing anxiety for young people, it was putting an administrative burden on teachers at administrative burden on teachers at a time when they need to be preparing for the new school term, and seeing this we realised that we had taken the wrong road here and we needed to change course. these are unprecedented circumstances. the task we attempted to do was to set exa m task we attempted to do was to set exam grades with no exams taking place. we developed an approach that

has been used in other countries as well, but it is clear that while it may have technical merits in some ways, it is simply not an acceptable experience for young people and we have therefore decided that we should change course and allow the centre assessed grades to be awarded. the chair of quual, roger taylor. we're joined by the education journalist and former editor of schools week, laura mcinerney. i'm dying to know what you make of this change. i think there came a point where once scotland had reverted back to teacher or school submitted grades, wales and northern ireland were also going to do so, england didn't have a lot of choice. what's interesting is should they have taken the decision earlier? it's almost a week since the

education secretary came out and said they felt the appeals system needed to change. it is several days since results. it feels like it has taken a long time but this is the place we are now. will this achieve fairness for students? it depends on what you mean by fairness. what it does mean is there shouldn't be the surprise and disappointment that came out in the results last week once everyone received the grades that had been calculated from the exams regulator. i think when you put surprise and disappointment together, that is always catastrophic and it does mean young people who were expecting to have positions in universities are now going to be able to get those, although still how that will happen is not clear. absolutely, and you are not any clearer than we are? at the moment, no. the announcement that came at four o'clock, there will be a further statement i believe from the education secretary

later today and at that point he will say what happens in the case for example when someone has taken their second choice university because they missed out or have gone through clearing. if they have now been given the grades that would have got them into their first choice university, are they going to have the right to revert and what will that do to people who got the university space in their place? it is tricky and we maybe have another couple of hours to go before there is more clarity but i hope it comes soon. i would be interested in your thoughts about the worries around grade inflation, which seem to have been the justification as to why the government have stayed with this algorithm for as long as they have. the argument that teachers are over optimistic about pupils' grades. should we say actually this is the year we need to be generous? the government had two main concerns when they were trying to limit the

grade inflation. if you have lots of stu d e nts grade inflation. if you have lots of students who suddenly get top grades, and we are likely to see the proportion doubling from around 7% to around 13.5% so it will be quite dramatic. that makes it more difficult for universities and employers to make decisions about which students they take or which future employees they take so you don't want the university and employers falling back on things like soft skills so that was one concern. the second concern is what happens to the students in the year above so those who have just gone to university, or those in the year below. we have a year group next year that needs to sit exams and they have missed out on several months of school. if they have to go into university applications next year with those who have deferred or they are up forjobs with the same students, if you have different levels of top grades there is a

feeling some of the students next year might be disadvantaged. the government have decided they will ta ke government have decided they will take that approach anyway and revert to the grades submitted by schools, and ultimately they will have to make decisions about how to make that fairfor make decisions about how to make that fair for next year's students next year. as you said we are expecting further clarity from the minister in the next hour or so, but in the meantime we know that gavin williamson has issued a statement in which he apologises. "i'm sorry for the distress this has caused young people and their parents but i hope this announcement will now provide the certainty and reassurance they deserve." will this be enough to save hisjob? deserve." will this be enough to save his job? there are certainly young people who are saying tha nkfully young people who are saying thankfully they have listened, i feel a lot better about the situation. so some people who are being persuaded. that said, this has been one of the biggest scandals we have seen in education. it has hit

hundreds of thousands of young people. there are 55,000 students who took their second place offer at university who are now very confused soi university who are now very confused so i don't think we can doubt he has presided over something that has been very confusing, dragged out for a long period of time. on the other hand the government have typically been quite loyal to one another. borisjohnson has not thrown people under the bus including his own special adviser dominic cummings earlier this year when there was a lot of pressure to sack him over the fa ct lot of pressure to sack him over the fact dominic cummings had moved to durham during the lockdown period. i don't think we will necessarily see gavin williamson have to go, but at many other times in the past someone in his position would have done so. we must leave it there. thank you for your time. i'm joined now by jason mccartney, the conservative mp for colne valley. i would like to pick up on that last point from laura, she described this as one of the biggest scandals in

education. the government's reputation for competence on this subject is battered. how embarrassing is this?” subject is battered. how embarrassing is this? i would just say this global pandemic has been one of the biggest challenges that all of us, notjust in government but in society and communities have faced in our lifetimes. we have to remember that anything that replaced actual exams was always going to be incredibly challenging. i certainly welcome the certainty this afternoon welcome the certainty this afternoon we have now got the head of gcse results on thursday. we have now got to support all the students who got their a—level results last thursday, trying to help them into their university places which may not have got the grades they were hoping for, or their career path is moving forward. just so i am clear in my mind, do you support the u—turn or do you think the government should have stuck to the algorithm?”

welcome the government supporting students, and actually listening. that is what this is all about. i will leave the politics and phraseology to everyone else. i have been speaking to students, parents, my local college principals and head teachers all weekend, and hearing their individual stories about challenges they have been facing because they haven't got the grades they were expecting because of this algorithm that downgraded them. that is where my focus has been today. this is so important for young people's mental health. the lockdown has been such a challenge for young people, and if students get over inflated grades i don't care, because i care about the students that have been downgraded and are now feeling the anguish and worry because they haven't got into their first choice university. i'm pleased the government has also announced the government has also announced the cap on numbers of students at

university has been removed so i hope there is a place for every student who wants to go to university, and that's where my focus and i think everybody‘s focus should be. how did we get to this point? even you, who is very supportive of your own government... no, i'm supportive of young people. and you have accepted many of them have had a difficult time over the last five days, so how did we get to this point? i appreciate we are in the middle of the global pandemic but of quarrel and the government have had months to get this right. we got to this point because 0fqual came up with an algorithm and until we saw the results of it we didn't realise what impact it had. in my area we have two big sixth form colleges and the algorithm hasn't worked for big cohorts, particularly with the ranking for individual stu d e nts with the ranking for individual students as well. that's what i have been listening to all weekend, listening to local students who have

missed out on first choice places at university, listening to head teachers and college principals as well. i am pleased at this late stage we have now got certainty for gcse students and i have token to a number of head teachers this morning as well, particularly for students that have improved over the last 12 months. maybe they have new leadership and they would have been impacted very badly if they had continued using this algorithm. but as you say, let's remember we are in as you say, let's remember we are in a global pandemic. these are extraordinary times and we need extraordinary times and we need extraordinary measures. hopefully we can rally round, focus on supporting young people, getting them into their college courses and on to their college courses and on to their chosen career path. this is an incredibly challenging time. am i not right that the department for education charged 0fqual with coming up education charged 0fqual with coming up with a system that ensured predicted grades were not the sole basis of results because that would

mean grades would go up. the department for education was worried about grade inflation and that's how we got to this algorithm.” about grade inflation and that's how we got to this algorithm. i think you're absolutely right. i don't care. we are an extraordinary times where students get inflated grades. i care about the students from disadvantaged backgrounds. if any student has missed out on the opportunity of a life changing course, then we as a country, all of us have failed that student. let's focus on their mental health and wellbeing and support them. that's where my focus is today and the focus of head teachers and parents. and let's move forward.” focus of head teachers and parents. and let's move forward. i understand that. some might say the focus should have been on all of that perhaps five days ago before that. i can't believe you don't care about the perception of your government though, and there is a perception that no one seems to be in charge.

gavin williamson, 0fqual, boris johnson, it seems to be a massive management failure. who do you think is responsible? i think coronavirus is responsible? i think coronavirus is responsible. these are exceptional times, and we mustn't forget that. we have exceptional support measures coming through for the economy and the second phase of the economy and the second phase of the self employed support scheme has been launched today but there are still millions that have been excluded from support. we need to help them. my area of west yorkshire are still in special measures so i have people who run beauty parlours who cannot reopen. they are struggling in terms of their businesses. i have people who want to get married in front of their family and friends and there are limitations there as well so these are extraordinary times, and i will work with anybody who tries to focus on young people, and support for businesses, on support for communities. we can have the reckoning for politicians and

governments when we have the inevitable inquiries. at the moment let's focus on young people. i have to declare an interest, my eldest daughter is due to get her gcses this week as well so i know only too well the concerns for every young person during these exam times. let's focus on them. we have certainty now so let support young people who missed out on their university course first choice and see if we can get them in. jason mccartney, thank you forjoining us on bbc news. a—level and as—level students in northern ireland will be awarded the highest grade either predicted by their teacher or awarded officially last week. let's hearfrom northern ireland education minister peter weir. i have today instructed that all of their a—level and as—level qualifications will now be awarded the higher of the grades submitted

by the centre or the grade calculated by cca. in the interim stu d e nts calculated by cca. in the interim students will be able to access details of their centre recessed grade from their school or college. concerns remain over the impact of the changes to the qualification system throughout the united kingdom, and any potential solution has its flaws. however, any other considerations are secondary to the prime concern to ensure the young people of northern ireland are in no way disadvantaged in comparison to their peers elsewhere. portability and comparability of qualifications is critical for students, particularly those from northern ireland. these are truly unique circumstances and this approach is now being adopted across all of the

uk. that is why i have made this decision today. that is peter weir, the northern ireland education minister. the headlines on bbc news... a major government u—turn in england as the exams regulator says all gcse and a level results in england will now be based on assessments by teachers. the move comes after the welsh government announced the same earlier today, and northern ireland pledged to do the same for gcses. anger on the streets of belarus — with a new wave of strikes to try to force president alexander lukashenko to step down. tonight the democratic national convention gets underway in the us — four days of events leading up to the main moment — crowning the presidential nominee joe biden and his vice—presidential pick kamala harris.

traditionally the event is loud and brash but this year it will be a very different event. covid—19 fears mean that the only people attending in—person at the convention centre in milwaukee will be those running the event. mr biden will be dialling in to deliver his speech from delaware on thursday. neda tawfik has more. tens of thousands of people should have been descending on milwaukee to mark the start of the democrats' general election campaign. instead, the party will be holding an unconventional convention because of health concerns surrounding the pandemic. this is what it should look like, but the normally jam—packed arenas will be replaced by two hours of virtual programming each night. over the four days, speakers will include party heavyweights such as the 0bamas and clintons and a mix of moderates to progressive stars such as bernie sanders and alexandria 0casio—cortez. heading into the convention, this pollster says the biden—harris ticket is in a good position leading by a comfortable margin.

conventions really don't play a large role in the election anyway so it's not going to really matter. in fact, it could just help him further. and what we have seen is him staying in place, staying in the shadows, letting president trump fall over his own rhetoric and his own handling of the pandemic and the protests and the economy, that has worked for biden really well in the last couple of months and we see that in the polls. his low—profile campaign, dubbed invisible by republicans, has certainly helped him control his image, avoiding the rigours of the campaign trail and grabbing attention at key moments. there's nothing ordinary about this election season. the typical issues that preoccupy campaigns have been overshadowed by the unprecedented challenges facing the economic and social well—being of americans. and that means, inevitably, the incumbent, president trump, will ultimately face more scrutiny than his challengerjoe biden. what do we want? justice! democrats are hoping to attract a broad coalition that will turn out on election day. you know, just give the youth more than opportunity.

—— you know, just give the youth more of an opportunity. whilejoe biden doesn't excite the progressive left wing voters who preferred his primary challenger bernie sanders, he hasn't alienated all of them either. i will vote forjoe biden because, again, as bernie sanders stated our end goal is to defeat donald trump and to not, you know, give him more ammo to split any votes, or to even have a low voter turnout. we cannot afford to let that happen because i do not know where we will be in the next four years from now but i pray that it is not with the occupant in the office that we currently have. we have to remember who we are. joe biden will officially accept the party's presidential nomination without the usual fanfare and balloon drop. no doubt the democratic national convention will look and feel very different. like everything else this year. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. they were two killings just days apart which shocked the country. the deaths of harry dunn and pc andrew harper — in totally different circumstances — happened in the glare of the public eye.

now, their mums have found support from each other, and in discussing their grief they even discovered that their boys shared a birthday. graham satchell has been to talk to them. two mothers bound together by the loss of a son. pc andrew harper's mother, debbie, and harry dunn's mother, charlotte, have formed a remarkable bond. you are very careful with how much you let others see but when you know that you've got somebody that's equally broken inside, it's easier. charlotte's son, harry, died when the motorbike he was riding was hit head—on by anne sacoolas, who was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road. ms sacoolas, the wife of an american intelligence officer, claimed diplomatic immunity and left the country. debbie's son andrew harper was killed in the line of duty. after attempting to make an arrest, he was dragged behind a carfor almost a mile. you wake up and it's on your mind.

before you've woken up it's already there. there's no waking up in the morning thinking, "ah..." and then, "0h. you know, there's nothing that breaks it. it's 2a/7. you know, 2a hours a day. it's just the physical pain that you feel all day, every day. and it doesn't... it just doesn't go away. both women have turned the pain of losing a son into campaigning. debbie is fighting for andrew's law — it would mean an automatic 20—year sentence for anyone convicted of killing a police officer. charlotte wants anne sacoolas, who's been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, to go through the british justice system. to take on your government and the american government, you know, it's larger than enormous — it's a monster. and she's just kept going. but as i know, you keep going for your boy. but i think what we're both hoping is our campaigns will be able to help us to learn to actually live again. but debbie and charlotte

are still haunted by the horrific ways they lost their sons. 0bviously with andrew, he was 99% unconscious at the very first when he went down. but that 1% becomes enormous in the middle of the night when you're feeling so sad. you feel their pain and you feel guilty that you weren't with them. and you'd do anything you could... as horrific as it may have been, to have just been there and held their hand and let them know that... even though they would have still died, that you were there to comfort them. and we both had that taken from us. that was robbed. debbie and charlotte will continue to support each other, continue to fight for their boys. graham satchell, bbc news.

this is bbc news. a little bit more on the news that all gcse and a—level results in the uk will be based on teacher assessments. we have had reaction from the chief executive of universities uk. he has said, today's policy change will mean more students will have the grades that match the offer of their first choice university. this will cause challenges at this late stage in the admissions process capacity, staffing, placement and facilities, particularly with the social distance measures in place. universities will do everything they can to work through these issues in the days ahead, he adds, but he is calling on the government to support universities. more on that and plenty more reaction at the top of the hour on that government u—turn on exam results but now it's time for a look at the weather. hello.

we continue with the threat of intense but localised thunderstorms over the next 2a hours, producing scenes like these with clouds on the horizon and this beautiful rainbow. the thundery showers will migrate northward late afternoon into the evening before petering out, then we will see this area of more persistent rain pulling away from northern ireland, swirling across the irish sea to end the night. pretty muggy once again, lows of 1a degrees. into tuesday, this swirl of rain will pull across northern wales into northern england through the morning before pushing northwards into scotland during the course of the day. looking at the map, it looks like it's petering out but we can still see intense rainfall working northwards across scotland. for england and wales, yes, some decent sunshine but still locally the risk of some intense thunderstorms. for the remainder of the week, we turn to the atlantic

and areas of low pressure — two centres in fact in this circulation here, which will bring strong winds to all parts of the uk throughout the remainder of the week. wednesday, particularly i think for western areas. as we see this band of rain coming in, and this could be heavy enough again to cause localised flooding. with pretty soggy ground we could see winds reaching a0 mph bringing down the odd tree. scotland looking driest and brightest through the middle of the week. thursday, if we look closely at the weather chart, we will see a gap between the bands of rain, the isobars opening up a touch. first thing on thursday not too bad for the uk but we have showery rain approaching from the west, and the winds will pick up through the course of the day again, particularly gusty towards the west with showers crowding in. in the east with some sunshine, a little warmer once again, up to 25 degrees. perhaps it's friday that's our greatest cause for concern. that looks like the day that

will bring the peak winds. more rain pushing across the uk but the winds could reach 50 mph in exposure towards the west, strong enough potentially to cause damage and disruption. an unseasonably windy end in store to the week ahead.

this is bbc news. the headlines. a major government u—turn in england as the exams regulator says all gcse and a—level results in england will now be based on assessments by teachers. i would like to say sorry for that, and we are now taking steps to put that right. the education secretary apologised saying students had been affected by "significa nt inconsistencies" with the grading process. 0ver over the weekend it became clearer to me that there were a level of the number of students who were getting grades that frankly they should not have been getting and should have been doing a lot better. the move comes after the welsh government announced